Here’s What You Need To Know About COVID Swab Test Kit Of Rapid Antigen

A new COVID swab test kit called the rapid antigen test will be available in supermarkets in the coming week.

Coles stores across the country will stock the Chinese-made nasal tests, which are manufactured by Hough Pharma and take about 15 minutes to complete.

Greg Hunt, the health minister, announced last week that the Therapeutic Good Administration (TGA) had approved the use of the kits from November 1. Virus pieces are detected by these tests. Antigen tests are usually done quickly while you wait (within minutes to about an hour) after a sample is gathered by a health care provider, but sometimes they are sent to a central laboratory as well. 

A PCR test is required to confirm an antigen test result for the current antigen tests available on the market. The low cost and simple nature of antigen tests make them ideal for use in remote locations. With their fast results and simplicity of administration, they provide an advantage over other COVID-19 tests like the standard polymerase chain reaction or PCR.

Rapid antigen test: what is it about? 

Testing for antigens is a quick and easy way to see if a foreign substance, such as a virus or bacteria, is present.

A doctor can perform COVID swab test kit for flu or strep throat without expensive equipment in his or her office, and the results are available in 10 to 15 minutes.

Read the results of test in the top section of the result window, a colored line appears to indicate that the official rapid tests have been completed successfully. The C mark indicates that the test was completed successfully. The test should be considered valid even if the control line is faint. Tests that do not have a control line are invalid.

In the lower section of the result window, a colored line appears when the result is positive. T stands for Test. Despite faint or non-uniform test lines, a positive result should be interpreted as such.

What is their purpose?

Imagine it as a pregnancy test at home. An antigen test for coronaviruses uses a swab of tissue, usually a throat swab, and a specially treated strip that uses a special color or marker to detect the presence of the new virus.

A coronavirus antigen test looks for a specific protein on the coronavirus spikes, which give it its name.

The test returns out with the positive result if detectable quantities of that specific of the protein are present. Results can be obtained within 30 minutes using a rapid COVID-19 test swab.

Where can you buy a rapid antigen test?

As early as next week, supermarkets will be able to purchase rapid antigen tests, with 700 Coles outlets carrying the kits.

According to Woolworths, they are also looking into rolling out rapid testing kits, initially in states with outbreaks such as New South Wales and Victoria.

Rapid antigen tests: how accurate results they show?

Professor Mary Louise McLaws who is from department of WHO and is Professor of Epidemiology at the University of NSW, says that some tests are “close to around 100 percent” accurate.

Despite their low cost, they are quite accurate, particularly when used repeatedly. The accuracy of these rapid tests is best in terms of settings where coronavirus transmission is quite a bit high.

The TGA says that there is more risk of false positives and false negatives in communities with low rates of COVID-19 because there is a lower rate of COVID-19.

Currently, the TGA recommends that PCR tests be performed in order to confirm the results of rapid antigen tests.

Although no or very low community transmission is the objective, confirmatory testing by PCR is essential if a rapid antigen test results in a positive result, says the TGA.

The rapid antigen test cannot simply be repeated in the hope of obtaining a negative result on the second attempt. A PCR test should be performed on any positive result.