Antigen testing finally begins

The government yesterday introduced the much talked about antigen-based rapid testing for free in 10 districts across the country.

Health Minister Zahid Maleque inaugurated the testing through a video conference from his village home in Manikganj. Health Secretary Abdul Mannan and the director general of the health directorate also participated in the event from their homes in the capital.

The testing process of samples from three patients in Jashore was aired live at the virtual event. Two of the tests produced negative results while another was shown to be under process.

According to the testing protocol, people who would test negative for Covid-19 under the antigen-based testing would again give samples for RT-PCR testing.

The nine other districts are: Brahmanbaria, Gaibandha, Joypurhat, Madaripur, Meherpur, Munshiganj, Panchagarh, Patuakhali and Sylhet.

The antigen-based rapid testing is an easy-to-use molecular test -- alternative to the sophisticated RT-PCR tests -- which detects the presence of the virus itself.

After months of bureaucratic exercises, the health ministry on September 17 decided to introduce antigen-based rapid testing at 39 public hospitals and specialised institutes in areas which did not have RT-PCR testing facilities.

Speaking at the event yesterday, the health minister said, "Testing is very much needed to control novel coronavirus and also for its treatment. Antigen-based testing will be introduced in all districts at the earliest."

He said the antigen-based testing were being carried out following the guideline of World Health Organization (WHO).

Mentioning that the number of Covid-19 patients and the death rate are on the rise recently, Zahid said, "Patients can be brought under treatment fast through detection of the infection. However, maintaining self-protection is more important."

Bangladesh is now conducting around 15,000 Covid-19 RT-PCR tests a day in 118 authorised laboratories. It is near the bottom of the list of countries in terms of tests conducted considering its population of over 160 million.

Asked whether the government had any plan to significantly increase the number of daily tests, the minister claimed that people were not opting for the test. "That's why the number of tests is low."

DGHS DG Prof ABM Khurshid Alam said they could introduce the rapid antigen-based testing and that it was delayed. "It is better late than never."

Prof Nasima Sultana, additional director general (administration) of DGHS, civil surgeons of 10 districts and the directors of 10 hospitals attended the online event, conducted by Prof Meerjady Sabrina Flora, additional director (planning and development) of DGHS.

35 MORE DIE

Thirty-five more people died from Covid-19 in 24 hours till 8:00am yesterday, according to a press release issued by the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).

With this, the total number of deaths from the virus has reached 6,807 in the country. The death rate is 1.43 percent.

Among the 35 deceased are 23 males and 12 females.

A total of 1,888 new infections were recorded in the same 24-hour period, taking the total number of infected people to 475,879, added the release.

With 13,540 tests conducted, the positivity rate was 13.94 percent for the same period. The overall positivity rate now stands at 16.70 percent.

Meanwhile, 2,457 Covid-19 patients have recovered in the 24-hour period, taking the total number of recoveries to 393,408. The overall recovery rate is 82.67 percent.

Of the 35 deceased, one was aged between 21 and 30 years, one between 41 and 50, nine were between 51 and 60 and 24 were above 60 years.