Gujarat health department allows antigen testing instead of RT-PCR of prisoner, accused

  • | Wednesday | 23rd September, 2020

In Gujarat, it is not mandatory to test the RT-PCR of a prisoner or an accused`s corona. The Gujarat High Court had directed the state government to conduct rapid antigen test only after allegations that the police kept the prisoners as well as the accused in Gondi for more than 24 hours in the name of doing RT-PCR for corona.

In Gujarat, it is not mandatory to test the RT-PCR of a prisoner or an accused`s corona. The Gujarat High Court had directed the state government to conduct rapid antigen test only after allegations that the police kept the prisoners as well as the accused in Gondi for more than 24 hours in the name of doing RT-PCR for corona. In addition, it is not mandatory to perform RT-PCR of prisoners and accused, instead antigen tests may be performed. The state health department has issued a circular for this.

In the popular case, the accused`s wife`s habeas corpus was salvaged by the police.
The entire case has been executed following the direction of the Gujarat High Court. It so happened that even two days after the arrest of Virendra Patel, one of the accused in the Popular Builder case, he was not produced in court. Anapagal had filed a habeas corpus petition in the High Court alleging that his wife had not been produced in court despite keeping her husband in police custody for more than 24 hours. The police were involved in this. This was the reason why the police had to argue that the accused could not be produced in court within 24 hours as the result of the RT-PCR test took 2 days. However, the High Court directed the government not to require RT-PCR test to present the accused in court and to present him in court if the result is negative by performing antigen rapid test.

The two-day delay in the RT-PCR test resulted in the approval of the antigen test
, according to further details. There was also a delay in presenting the prisoner in court. Legally the accused has to be produced in court within 24 hours after detention, but this was not possible in the RT-PCR test. For a number of reasons, the government has now approved antigen tests for accused-prisoners.

What is antigen testing?
The antigen test is also called the rapid diagnostic test. The patient`s saliva is taken as a sample during the antigen test process. Whether or not a person has a virus in their body is detected by the fluorescence immunoassay method. A large number of physicians are supporting the antigen test. The ever-increasing number of RATs has greatly helped the Government of India in increasing testing, early detection of infections, management of infected people and isolation of contacts.

How accurate is the antigen test?
According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, antigen tests yield faster results than molecular tests. However, antigens are more likely to miss an active infection case. This result may be incorrect if the antigen test is negative. An RT-PCR test is needed to confirm this. The most special thing about this test is that this test is done quickly and can be done in the same place with the help of the device.

ICMR issued new guidelines for Covid-19 on June 23. It said that a person who tested positive for an antigen should be considered actually infected, but a PCR test should be confirmed if a person is showing symptoms and the result is negative.

According to ICMR, the entire public health machinery is involved in testing, tracking and treating Covid-19 patients. In such cases it is very important to test the antigen-based assay as a point of care test to know SARS-COV-2 early. According to ICMR, the real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) is the gold standard test for detecting SARS-COV-2.

ICMR has approved the use of antigen detection kit of South Korean company SD Biosensor in India. It is also called the Standard Q Covid-19 AG Detection Kit. The kit comes with an inbuilt antigen test device, a tube for viral removal with a viral lysis buffer, and a steroid swab for collecting samples.

The ICMR advised that this test should be done under the supervision of a medical expert. In addition, ICMR has approved the Covid 19 antigen lateral test device of the Indian company Labcare Diagnostic Limited and the Covid 19 AG strip of Belgium.


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