The FDA has started to authorize rapid tests that can be run at home, which many experts see as a major advancement for easy, fast, and accessible Covid-19 testing that could make great strides in heading off outbreaks. Many experts see them as accurate detectors of infectious cases, however, and a useful tool for mass screening programs. But they’re not as sensitive as genetic tests and may miss cases where people have low levels of the virus in their system. How much human potential has been lost?Īntigen tests can give results within minutes and are cheaper than genetic tests. There are also rapid genetic tests, which are faster than the PCR test but not as accurate. In the earliest days of the pandemic, RT-PCR tests were all that were available, so they might be the ones you’re the most familiar with. To get one of these, you can go to a point-of-care site to have a sample collected from your nose (or mouth) and sent to a lab, or you can have a test kit delivered to your home, where you collect your own sample and send it back to a lab yourself. The standard genetic RT-PCR tests require several hours to run (usually returning results within a few days) and are considered the most accurate of Covid-19 tests. There are basically two flavors of Covid-19-detecting tests: molecular, also known as genetic-based tests, which look for the virus’s RNA and antigen tests, which look for proteins on the surface of the virus. Or that it’s important to keep using tests, even after getting vaccinated. At the same time, many people still don’t know how testing works, what’s out there, or why - and how - they should use testing. Soon - maybe within a few weeks - you might even be able to pick up a test at your local pharmacy and do it yourself. Testing might be more important now than ever, and new testing technology and government funding and initiatives are making getting tested faster, easier, and cheaper than it’s ever been. So it would be understandable if you thought there wasn’t a place for testing anymore. As long as we had enough tests and got them in the hands of enough people, we’d be able to identify and contain outbreaks, and life would soon go back to normal.īut now that we have vaccines, death and infection rates are declining, some states are dropping their restrictions, more kids are going back to school, grandparents are giving hugs, and it looks like we’re in for a much safer and better summer than 2020. In addition to the elective and compulsory external inspections and proficiency testing programs required by the Government of India and other applicable regulatory agencies, we have systems and procedures in place to emphasize and monitor quality through inter-centre comparisons, thereby helping to maintain reporting standards within our entire network of diagnostic centres.There was a time when we thought Covid-19 testing would save us from the pandemic. In addition, some of our diagnostic centres have achieved International Organization for Standardization, or ISO, certification for their quality systems. NABL certification is a mandatory eligibility condition for diagnostic centres empanelment under the Central Government Health Scheme. Our diagnostic centres are accredited by NABH and NABL to ensure that the services we offer and our centres comply with International Organisation for Standardization Standards. Each of our diagnostic centres ensure compliance with quality standards that are designed to improve the processes for collection, handling, storage and transportation of patient specimens, as well as to assure accurate and timely test results and work environment of our employees in general.
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