Vergeire Says DOH Will Not Ban Use Of Antibody Tests For COVID-19
DOH – Department of Health (DOH) Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said they won’t ban the use of rapid antibody tests (RATs) for COVID-19.
Following a previous article, Health Professions Alliance against COVID-19 Dr. Antonio Dans said the rapid antibody tests (RATs) are not very accurate. He also said it could be the reason for the spike of coronavirus infection in the country.
Dans urged companies and local government units (LGUs) to stop using these test kits. “Dapat sa ngayon wag na munang gamitin, itago na lang. Gamiting ang swab,” he said.
Based on a report from Philstar, Department of Health (DOH) Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the department is not about to ban the use of RATs. She said it can still be used in some ways for COVID-19 response. She trusts that it can still be useful to people who are recovering or have recovered from COVID-19.
“There is still use for it. Because on the 21st day of the illness of a patient, RATs becomes accurate or sensitive to detect if the patient had already recovered,” she said.
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According to the report, Vergerie said they still don’t recommend the use of RATs for screening. There are three coronavirus testing methods available in the Philippines, including RATs. The others are the rapid antigen test and the realtime-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR).
The gold standard for coronavirus testing is the RT-PCR. It can detect the presence of the virus even after a person had completed the 14-day quarantine.
The rapid antigen test is the latest COVID-19 test kits that come out in the market. Experts said it gives more accurate results than RATs.
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