Coronavirus: Rapid Antigen Test for COVID begins in Pune today, results declared in 30 minutes

Pune, July 1, 2020: The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) today started Rapid Antigen Tests in the city. The doctors and nurses treating COVID-19 positive patients and PMC workers working at COVID centres will be tested in the first phase. PMC has acquired 1 lakh testing kits for the same, worth around Rs 4.5 crores.

The number of COVID patients in the city is increasing rapidly. At present, it requires at least 24 to 48 hours to get the test results of the traced suspected contacts of the COVID positive patients, due to which around 8,000 people have to be kept under quarantine until then.

Therefore, PMC has decided to use the rapid antigen tests approved by the Central Government for urgent testing of those who have come in direct contact with positive patients. The rapid test results are declared in 30 minutes.