How effective will it be to opt for Rapid Diagnostic Test ?

The country has already entered the second stage of COVID-19 following the recent confirmation of the first locally transmitted COVID-19 case. Taking into consideration the possible mass outbreak of the disease, the government has enrolled large-scale rapid diagnostic test (RDT) throughout the country.

However, the underlying concern is on exactness of the result and the quality of the RDT kit. There is no diagnostic test that produce 100% valid result. Still, real time Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) is regarded as the most standard test for diagnosis of COVID-19 which requires at least require Biosafety Level-2 (BSL-2) or equivalent laboratory facilities and qualified laboratory technologist. As of now, laboratory diagnosis of COVID-19 is being carried in only in 15 different laboratories of Nepal including central laboratory in Kathmandu- National Public Health Laboratory (NPHL). It has been learnt around 500 and 3,000 tests are carried out every day through RT-PCR and RDT Kit respectively in Nepal. There are many instances that test positives from RDT turned negative when verified with RT-PCR.