6 out of 10 tests in Noida, Ghaziabad are with antigen kits

NOIDA/GHAZIABAD: The testing rate in both Noida and Ghaziabad has been much higher than the national average of 1,595 samples per lakh population. While Noida has been conducting 7,296 tests per lakh, Ghaziabad’s average has been 2,429 tests.
This surge in testing rate can mostly be attributed to the growing number of rapid antigen tests the twin districts have been conducting recently in camps.Around 60% of the tests that Noida and Ghaziabad have conducted so far have been with the rapid antigen method.
According to data sourced from the health department, 66,000 of 1.1 lakh tests conducted in Ghaziabad till August 3 have been done with rapid antigen kits. In Noida, 75,000 of 1.2 lakh tests were done with the same method.
The testing rate picked up only after a high-level meeting on June 18 that was chaired by Union home minister Amit Shah and attended by Niti Aayog member Dr VK Paul and other senior officials. As cases were rising by leaps and bounds, both Noida and Ghaziabad were asked to intensify surveillance so that Covid patients were detected early.
The districts introduced antigen tests on June 26. Before that, the RT-PCR method was primarily used for testing samples. Officials said the introduction of rapid antigen kits not only boosted the sampling process in the two districts but also brought down the positivity rate. In Ghaziabad, the positivity rate reduced from 7.5% in June to 4.7% in August. In Noida, it came down from 17% in mid-June to around 4.4% in July.
Officials, however, said they were planning to increase the number of RT-PCR tests. Many patients who had tested negative with the antigen method were found to have Covid after an RT-PCR test.
Ghaziabad DM Ajay Shankar Pandey said, “Once our RT-PCR lab at MMG District Hospital becomes functional, we plan to increase the number of tests using this method.”
Noida DM Suhas LY said rapid antigen kits had helped the health department cover containment zones. “Those who tested negative with antigen kits and showed symptoms were sent to the nearest Covid collection centre for RT-PCR tests,” he added.