Ahmedabad: The RT-PCR test is considered to be the most prominent one for testing Coronavirus although it is also not completely accurate. ETV Bharat has come across two cases where within five days two people had tested positive for COVID-19 after getting two to three negative results. Currently, both patients are doing well.
The first case is of Piyushbhai Vaghela who is a resident of Ahmedabad. He had received RT-PCR COVID negative report on September 5. He later went to a hospital for treatment of another ailment. Following the protocol, he was again tested for coronavirus and this time his RT-PCR results came positive on September 8. On September 9, he again got himself tested at a private laboratory where his report was found negative.
Thus within five days, he received one positive and two negative RT-PCR COVID reports and at present he is completely healthy.
Read:| India's first CRISPR COVID-19 test gets approval for use
The second case is of Kunal Panchal from Ahmedabad who underwent an antigen test by the Municipal Corporation on September 10 which turned out to be negative. On September 11, he went to the hospital for treatment of his kidney and was put to the RT-PCR test which reported him to be COVID positive following which he was discharged by the hospital without treatment.
Panchal called 104 on September 12 and the municipal team again conducted an antigen test which turned out to be negative. Panchal again went for the RT-PCR test in a private laboratory on September 14 which came as negative and he successfully took the treatment of his kidney ailment.
Speaking exclusively with ETV Bharat, president of Ahmedabad Medical Association Mona Desai said that the accuracy of Rapid Antigen test is 40 to 50 per cent while the accuracy of RT-PCR test is about 67 to 70 per cent. Talking about the fluctuating reports, she said that if the load of the virus was less then it is possible to get a negative report but the symptoms like fever continue, it is necessary to get CT scan of patient’s chest as its accuracy is 90 per cent correct.
Desai said that the COVID results may fluctuate if the viral load is less or if the test sample is taken from the throat instead of the nose.
The technician must take the sample very carefully. The accuracy of both Rapid Antigen test and RT-PCR is not 100 per cent, she added.
A total of 1.24 lakh cases of coronavirus have been reported in Gujarat till September 21, out of which 16,239 are active cases while 1.05 lakh people have recovered so far. Coronavirus has also claimed 3,337 lives across the state and around 38.6 lakh people have been tested for COVID-19.
