Stealthy Covid-19 virus is leading to false negatives: Report
- IndiaGlitz, [Tuesday,April 13 2021]
It's commonly held that, compared to Rapid Antigen Tests, RT-PCR is highly accurate in detecting Covid-19. But, in some Delhi hospitals/labs, even RT-PCR tests are throwing up false negatives more than before.
As per a ToI report, this is because Covid-19 is stealthy in a number of symptomatic individuals. While sick individuals are showing symptoms such as cough and shortness of breath, their RT-PCR test results come back negative. This has led to many doctors asking them to go for a CT scan. In these scan reports, the result suggests that the patient is Covid-19 positive.
It's only the lavage test that is ultimately throwing up a positive result in a conclusive manner.
A doctor, appearing on a TV channel, said that a lot of positive patients are found to be having the virus attached to the ACE receptors in the lungs, requiring a lavage test. In such cases, he suggested, the RT-PCR test may not be adequate.
Meanwhile, some experts are suggesting that using double masks instead of one may be required in the face of the second wave.