Over 90% COVID-19 tests in Gurugram now RT-PCR

Gurugram: As most districts and cities in the National Capital Region start dealing with fewer COVID-19 cases, what Gurugram has managed to achieve is a 90 per cent RT-PCR testing rate in its district. Health authorities in the city felt the need to change testing strategy once they believed the pandemic was somewhat contained, officials have said.

More than 90 per cent of Covid-19 tests conducted in the district are now RT-PCR tests with rapid antigen testing being discontinued in most areas. Moreover, the camps that had been set up by the Gurugram District Health Department for Rapid Antigen testing have also been discontinued.

According to officials, most people who are getting tested for COVID-19 are opting for RT-PCR testing as it provides more accuracy than rapid antigen testing. The decline in the number of cases has also resulted in a slight dip in the number of daily testing.

There are 2,500 to 3,000 tests for COVID-19 that are being done every day which is much below the 5,500 to 6,000 tests that were being done in December and January when the number of COVID-19 cases were also higher.

Even when Gurugram was reporting more than 250 -300 cases daily, the preferred choice for most still used to be RT-PCR, which accounted for 70 per cent of the total tests conducted in a day.

"A large number of patients opt for RT-PCR tests because of its higher efficiency. Considering this, we have discontinued certain camps for rapid antigen testing. Fortunately, the situation is in control and we are not seeing a major increase in the number of cases," said a senior official from Gurugram Health Department.

The positivity rate of COVID-19 in Gurugram for the last three weeks is hovering around one per cent. In January, it was at three per cent.