Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (SP)

Mangaluru, Jul 23: Since a week, antigen test kits are being used in Dakshina Kannada district to check presence of coronavirus infection. These kits have proved to be effective.

In the first consignment, the district had received 3,300 such kits. They were distributed among taluk hospitals and community centres, with 250 having been given to the district government hospital.

District health officer Dr Ratnakar, said that antigen kits are normally used with the aim of getting result faster in emergency cases. "These are normally used in case of child birth, surgery, acute symptoms of disease, organ failure, patients with more than one health issue, people arriving from abroad and other urgent cases. So far, the results have been good," he added.

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He said that in antigen tests, 70 percent accuracy is expected. He clarified that in cases where the result is negative in spite of the presence of aggravated symptoms, throat swabs are collected and referred for confirming the tests which are conducted at the laboratories.