No plans for antibody testing in Chandigarh so far

Naina Mishra

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 7

So far, the UT does not have any plans for starting rapid antibody testing for speedy detection of Covid-positive cases even though the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has rolled out an advisory regarding blood-based rapid-test kits.

UT Adviser Manoj Parida said: “We have not started any rapid testing as yet. We will consider rapid testing method only if a large number of cases arise in any pocket. The decision will be finally taken by the Governor. If there are 20 or more cases in any slum or colony, such measures will be required as per the medical advice.”

The ICMR advisory for rapid antibody testing is for those residing in Covid-19 hotspots or areas which have reported large numbers of cases. “Currently, there are no hotspots in Chandigarh as all our infected patients had returned from abroad. There homes are scattered all over the city,” said Parida.

The probable containment zones in near future could be slums and peripheral areas of Chandigarh. So far, the UT Administration has not implemented any containment policy.

As per the report of contact tracing among peripheral areas of city, 64 persons from Faida village have been home quarantined, along with 42 persons from Ramdarbar and 73 persons from Dhanas.

As per the present guideline of testing, the PCR (polymerase chain reaction) tests is carried to detect Covid cases from samples of throat or nasal swab of people with symptoms or high-risk individuals who might have come in contact with positive patients.

The rapid testing kits use blood samples of suspected patients and normally take around 15-30 minutes before the results are out. Under the existing PCR test, in private labs, the government has already put a cap of Rs 4,500 for Covid-19 test.

Director Health Service Dr G Diwan said that the UT Administration was waiting for guidelines from the Centre on antibody rapid testing.