Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (SP)

Mangaluru, Jul 13: Antigen tests to detect the presence of COVID infection, a system in which results can be got very fast, are being launched in the district from Monday July 13. The district has received 3,500 antigen COVID test kits and the health department plans to put these kits to use in select cases.

Currently, throat swab samples are being tested in corona labs. They normally take about two days to provide the results. In the case of antigen tests, reports would be ready in about 15 to 20 minutes. But these tests are not meant for everyone. Dakshina Kannada district in-charge health officer Dr Ratnakar, said that these tests are more convenient for people who are undergoing quarantine in hotels, those who are being treated in intensive care units because of presence of other ailments, and in the cases of severe acute respiratory infections (SARI).

The doctors collect throat swabs and put them in a solution. If coronavirus is present in the throat swab, they lose their potency. A few drops of the solution are then placed on the testing strip. If the strip has artificial antibody particles, the kit shows red lines in 15 minutes to indicate corona positive. If these lines do not appear, such cases are treated as negative.