Ramp up PCR tests: WHO

KATHMANDU, MAY 17

The World Health Organisation has said that rapid diagnostic tests performed to detect COVID-19 patients are not relevant for Nepal at this moment as the country has not detected a large number of cases.

“Many other countries have performed antibody tests (commonly referred to as rapid diagnostic tests in Nepal) only after rapid expansion of the epidemic,” WHO Country Representative to Nepal Jos Vandelaer told The Himalayan Times in an exclusive interview.

“These test results are generally representative of the entire city or an area. So, Nepal’s approach on this front has been quite different.”

Nepal has conducted 95,932 tests so far to confirm COVID-19. Of these, 67,769, or close to 71 per cent of the total tests, are rapid diagnostic.

Although Nepal has seen a surge in coronavirus cases in the past few days because of the increment in polymerase chain reaction tests, the government has not been able to significantly raise the number of PCR tests.

“If you want to see whether a person harbours coronavirus, then you need to do a PCR test,” said Vandelaer. “The RDTs or antibody tests will not tell you whether you have the virus.”

A version of this article appears in e-paper on May 18, 2020, of The Himalayan Times.

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