Comparison Of Positivity Rates Of Rapid Antigen Testing And Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction For Covid-19 During The First And Second Waves Of The Pandemic In Eastern Uttar Pradesh, India

BackgroundThe advent of the second wave of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in India caused a new range of challenges in diagnosing the virus. Various point-of-care tests have been introduced for rapid diagnosis. Although rapid antigen tests are the most commonly used, the false-negative rates are high. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to compare the positivity rate of real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) testing in rapid antigen-negative cases of COVID-19 during the first and second waves of the COVID-19 pandemic.MethodologyThis was an observational study conducted in the Department of Microbiology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Gorakhpur.ResultsIn total, 2,168 patients were tested. The percentage positivity rate of the RT-PCR tests among the antigen-negative samples was 4.34% in the first wave of the pandemic whereas it was 8.08% in the second wave.ConclusionsThe main conclusion of this study was that antigen tests should never be used alone for the diagnosis of COVID-19. Instead, they should be confirmed with a RT-PCR test.