The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) is planning to expand the use of rapid antigen-based COVID-19 tests.
ICMR has advised the states to use the easy-to-use method to complement the more rigorous RT-PCR test to detect the coronavirus as infections surge across the country.
“Rapid antigen-based tests can help to quickly determine an ongoing infection,” said a senior Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) official.
“This is why it is a good tool that can be used for diagnosis of COVID-19 along with the RT-PCR testing,” Hindustan Times reported quoting an unnamed ICMR official.
“Antigen based test is a rapid point-of-care test that can be done on the spot without posing a biosafety hazard as it doesn’t deal with analysing a live virus,” the report added.
It may be mentioned here that these tests detect the presence of a foreign substance in a person’s oral or nasal swab that triggers the production of antibodies and can thus find infections.