Bangladesh set to begin antigen tests before possible second wave of COVID-19

Antigen tests for coronavirus will begin soon in Bangladesh and the districts that have no RT-PCR lab will get the kits first, the director general of health services has said.

The Directorate General of Health Services or DGHS is collecting 200,000 kits through the Central Medical Stores Depot initially, ABM Khurshid Alam told bdnews24.com on Wednesday.

“The kits will reach within a day or two. Besides these, the UNFPA is supposed to give us 1 million kits. I hope we’ll be able to begin the tests within a day or two.  

Besides the districts without RT-PCR lab, the large hospitals will get the kits for patients who urgently need the tests.

“They still need a week to get the results. It appeared that the patients get infected while waiting for the results at the hospitals,” Khurshid said.  

The government is also considering allowing private hospitals to conduct antigen tests in exchange for fixed fees, the director general said.

The amount should not exceed the money being charged now for RT-PCR tests, he said.

Until now, only the RT-PCR tests have been conducted in authorised laboratories since the first coronavirus cases were detected in the country in March.

But the delay in getting the results in this process has hampered efforts to treat patients and contain the spread of the novel coronavirus.

The number of COVID-19 cases has continued to rise in the country, crossing 382,000 on Wednesday with nearly 5,600 deaths.

The antigen-based rapid tests will speed up the testing process, as the results are available within half an hour.

Swab samples from nose or throat are needed in both processes.

Though the number of daily cases has dropped along with the number of tests, experts emphasise antigen tests as part of efforts to contain a possible second wave of coronavirus infection.

They fear common winter diseases like cold, cough, pneumonia and cold diarrhoea will complicate the situation in the upcoming winter.

The government cleared the antigen tests on Sept 17 in line with the proposal of DGHS and the World Health Organization's interim guidance to address the need for antigen tests in Bangladesh.