Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) Director-General Dr. Balram Bhargava has said that lateral flow tests such as rapid-antigen tests (RAT) and home-antigen tests (HAT) help in the early detection of Covid-19 from the third day to the eighth day when the viral load is the highest-from start of the infection. They have become the backbone of testing during the present surge driven by the Omicron variant. 

RT-PCR tests considered the gold standard tests during the earlier surges, can detect some non-infective RNA particles even after the eighth day, which may lead to positive results. While the six-day period (from the third day to the eighth day since exposure) is the ‘infectious period.’ The discharge and isolation policy is focused on discharge after seven days. 

India has adequate testing kits and capacities; the total production capacity of RT-PCR and RAT kits is presently at 1.5 crores a day. Additionally, 18 lakh home antigen testing kits can be produced daily.

Source: The Times of India