COVID-19: ICMR DG lauds rise in testing, acknowledges large share of rapid antigen tests

Addressing the media on Tuesday, ICMR Director General Dr. Balram Bhargava elaborated on India's success in ramping up COVID-19 testing in the past 6 months. Mentioning the fact that the country breached the one million testing mark, he highlighted that testing had been increased gradually. While conceding that rapid antigen tests constitute 30-40% of the overall tests conducted in India, Dr. Bhargava affirmed that RT-PCR tests are growing at a rapid rate.

According to him, some states had reduced RT-PCR tests by 1-3% after finding rapid antigen tests simpler. Observing that the specificity is nearly 100% for both types of tests, the ICMR DG revealed that the sensitivity of the rapid antigen test is 60-85% as against the RT-PCR test having a sensitivity of 80-95%. At the same time, he added that a negative antigen test has to be followed by an RT-PCR test in the case of symptomatic patients. 

ICMR Director General Dr. Balram Bhargava remarked, "The way in which we have reached one million from one test in the last 6 months has been a calibrated and combined effort. In the first phase, COVID-19 was purely an international phenomenon occurring in large cities in large airports. We set up the RT-PCR labs which is the gold standard for testing. In the second phase, some RT-PCR labs were set up at the district level. We repurposed the tuberculosis TrueNat, tuberculosis CBNAAT, and the Abbott 30 machines. Subsequently, the third phase of the testing started wherein we were able to get some antigen tests with moderate to high sensitivity." 

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"We have to clearly tell you that the RT-PCR tests are still growing at a rapid rate. We are setting up new labs to test RT-PCR more. Some states have found antigen tests simpler and therefore, have reduced the RT-PCR test by 1-3%. The antigen tests vary from state to state, they would constitute 30-40% in terms of the overall tests. But many of them have to be followed by an RT-PCR test if symptomatic. The specificity is nearly 100% for both the tests. The sensitivity of rapid antigen tests is of moderate nature- 60-85% as against RT-PCR test having a sensitivity of 80-95%," he added. 

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'3 more vaccines in pre-clinical stage' 

Moreover, Dr. Bhargava clarified that not only will the ICMR sero survey findings be published in the Indian Journal of Medical Research by this week, but also its second sero survey shall be completed by the first week of September. On this occasion, he said that three more Indian vaccines are in the pre-clinical stage. Thereafter, he gave an update on the progress of the trials conducted by the vaccine candidates. 

The ICMR DG noted, "The ICMR sero survey is publication in-process. Hopefully, by this week, it should appear in the Indian Journal of Medical Research. Two rounds of peer-review have been done. Most of the sero surveys have been conducted by the states. We have embarked on the second sero survey, which should be completed by the first week of September."

"3 vaccines have been able to progress further. Three more vaccines are in the pre-clinical stage. This includes the Serum Institute's vaccine, which has entered phase 2 B and 3 in which 1700 patients will be studied. The second is the Bharat Biotech vaccine which has completed phase 1 trials and will enter phase 2 soon. Zydus Cadila's vaccine has completed phase 1 trials," he explained. 

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