Centre nod for serological tests for COVID-19

India’s top medical research body on Thursday recommended the use of rapid antibody tests or serological tests in areas that are emerging hotspots for COVID-19 for faster detection, even as the number of confirmed cases touched 1965 and the death toll touched 50.

In an interim advisory, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) recommended that the population in hotspot areas may be tested using rapid antibody tests.

The ICMR asked those testing positive in the antibody tests should be confirmed using the RT-PCR method by using nasal and oral swab samples, while those testing negative in the antibody test be quarantined at home.

A Health Ministry document stated that 20 existing COVID-19 hotspots and an additional 22 potential ones have been identified across the country.

The RT-PCR tests, currently carried out in India, look for the presence of the genomic sequence of the virus in the nasal and oral samples and take at least a day for results. These tests are considered as “gold standard” in diagnostics, whereas rapid antibody tests are faster but require a confirmatory PCR as a positive result could be due to cross-reaction with other bacteria or viruses.

The US FDA had approved the rapid antibody tests, commonly used to screen a person for HIV infection, for COVID-19 on March 20.

“We want the people to have access to testing, but of course, proper evaluation and safeguards will still be in place,” FDA Director-General Eric Domingo had said.

He added that these kits will yield a faster result compared to PCR-based kits, but it was important that a trained health professional evaluate and interpret the results.

According to Lav Aggarwal, Joint Secretary, Health Ministry, as many as 328 new COVID-19 positive cases and 12 deaths were reported since Wednesday taking the total number of confirmed cases to 1965 and deaths to 50.

Aggarwal said on the brighter side, the number of persons recovering from COVID-19 has risen to 151.

To questions on the shortage of personal protection equipment, Aggarwal said that orders have been placed for 1.5 crore PPEs and for one crore N95 masks, besides other regular surgical masks.