To check community spread of COVID19 and take remedial measures on fast track basis in the identified red zones across Jammu and Kashmir, the government would use Rapid Antibody Tests kits received from Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).
Professor and Head, Department of Microbiology at Government Medical College Jammu, DrShashi informed this while elaborating on measures being implemented by the GMC to contain the spread of this pandemic.
“This rapid antibody based blood test will conduct communityand cluster screening to detect possible carriers of Novel Corona virus besideshelping to know the impact of virus in the identified red zones,” she said.
She informed that the test does not prove whether a personwas positive or negative for COVID19 at a given point of time but will onlydetect presence or absence of anti-bodies against COVID19 in a person to tellthat the person has been exposed already to the virus and assess the seroprevalence .
“The aim of the rapid test is not diagnosis but with thesetests we will come to know whether the coronavirus has got established in acommunity in the identified red zones,” she said.
In this regard, thenecessary training for health professionals will start tomorrow. Pertinently,the ICMR has advised antibody tests in COVID19 hotspots which will ensurefaster detection of cases and clusters and guide the authorities to furtherfocus the hotspots to contain community spread.
She added the central reference agencies were issuingguidelines from time to time in order to improve things and they were tryingbest to implement those guidelines with utmost care.
She said all the departments were working in a coordinatedmanner in the battle against the novel agent.