On March 12, the State Food and Drug Administration issued a notice approving the application change of the self-test application of new crown antigen products in Nanjing Novizan, Beijing Jinwolf, Shenzhen Huada Inyuan, Guangzhou Wanfu Biology and Beijing Huaketai Biology.
Since then, five new crown antigen self-test products have been officially launched.
Nucleic acid testing remains the basis for confirming COVID-19 infection
According to the news on the website of the National Health Commission on the 11th, in order to further optimize the new crown virus detection strategy, the comprehensive group of the joint prevention and control mechanism of the State Council decided to add antigen detection as a supplement on the basis of nucleic acid detection, and has recently formulated and issued the "Application Plan for The Detection of New Coronavirus Antigens (Trial)".
The protocol specifies the populations to whom antigen testing is applicable:
First, those who go to primary medical and health institutions for treatment, accompanied by respiratory tract, fever and other symptoms and have symptoms within 5 days;
The second is isolation and observation personnel, including personnel in home isolation observation, close contact and sub-close contact, entry isolation observation, sealing and control area and control area;
Third, residents of communities with antigen self-testing needs.
According to the plan, community residents who have self-testing needs can purchase antigen detection reagents for self-testing through retail pharmacies, online sales platforms and other channels.
At the same time, the National Health Commission specifically stated that nucleic acid testing is still the basis for confirming the diagnosis of new coronavirus infection, and antigen detection as a supplementary means can be used for screening of specific populations, which is conducive to improving the ability of "early detection".
According to the plan, where primary medical and health institutions have nucleic acid testing capabilities, nucleic acid testing shall be preferred; those that do not have nucleic acid testing capabilities may be tested for antigens. Isolation observers and community residents conducting antigen testing shall carefully read the instructions and standardize operations, and once the antigen test is positive, they should immediately report to the relevant departments; when necessary, nucleic acid testing should be carried out to confirm.
It is understood that compared with nucleic acid detection, the speed of antigen detection can be faster and the operation is more convenient, but the accuracy is lower, and it is generally used for suspected people during the acute infection period. Positive antigen results can be used for early triage and rapid management of suspected populations, but not as a basis for confirming COVID-19 infection.
How residents themselves are doing with the coronavirus
Antigen testing
Topic: Liu Hao
Editor: Liu Hao