Rapid testing for coronavirus likely to start soon

India is likely to start rapid antibody testing on Thursday. People in high-risk areas, large migration gatherings and evacuation centres are expected to be the first to undergo this. This is a simple blood test that checks the presence of antibodies created by the body to fight the coronavirus.

The country’s top biomedical research organisation, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has released an advisory on how and where rapid test kits can be used.

“We are expecting the kits to arrive by Wednesday, and after that the Union health ministry will take a call on where all to deploy these kits in the field,” said Dr Raman R Gangakhedkar of the ICMR. “The government’s primary focus has been places from where large number of cases is being reported, large gatherings and evacuation centres. Another focus area for which our experts recommended rapid testing is for patients suffering from influenza-like illness”, said Luv Agarwal, Joint Secretary, Union Ministry of Health.

There are about 28,000 relief camps set up across India that are home to over one million migrant workers. This is the category of people that falls under those who need rapid testing according to officials.

The simple blood test takes 15-20 minutes to give results, It identifies people who were infected at least a week before the test, and also those who were infected but never diagnosed. This helps track undetected infections and giving the correct extent of the spread of the disease.

These antibody tests are expected to be very economical. It is being used for contact tracing in some countries.

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