RT-PCR tests, considered ‘gold standard’ for Covid-19 screening, to be cut down

The number of Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction, or RT-PCR, tests for the coronavirus will be reduced to 40% of the total tests by the end of June, the Centre said on Thursday, according to PTI. An RT-PCR test is considered to be the “gold standard” for Covid-19 screening.

The announcement differed from the 70% RT-PCR test target set by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at his meeting with the chief ministers in April.

At a press briefing on Thursday, Indian Council of Medical Research Director-General Balram Bhargava said India had been doing 16-20 lakh tests (per day) this week. “We have a capacity of about 20 lakh tests by end of the month and up to the end of next month we can have the capacity of up to 45 lakh because ICMR has validated more than 105 RAT [Rapid Antigen Test] companies and approved 41 of them and 31 of them are indigenous” he said, according to PTI.

Out of the 45 lakh tests, 18 lakh will be RT-PCR, while 27 lakh will be Rapid Antigen Tests, which are considered to be less sensitive. RAT may show false negatives – wrongly indicating that the infection is absent. However, experts believe that their accuracy of the…

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