DOH won’t ban use of rapid antibody tests

MANILA, Philippines — Despite the medical community’s call to ban the use of rapid antibody test kits, the Department of Health (DOH) isn’t keen on imposing a restriction, stressing that this can still be used to check if patients have already recovered from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire reiterated on Monday that the rapid test kits should not be used to screen patients for COVID-19 but only to see if one has already developed antibodies against the severe respiratory disease.

“There’s no need to ban it since it still has its use in our response. We can use the rapid antibody test on those patients who are already recovering or can already be tagged as recovered,” Vergeire said.

“This is because on the 21st day of illness, the kit is accurate and sensitive already to show if one has developed IgG (immunoglobulin G), the antibody which indicates that the patient has already recovered,” she added.

Earlier, the medical community blamed the local governments’ and the business sector’s inappropriate use of rapid test kits to screen their employees for COVID-19 for the surge in cases. They pointed out that this might have helped drive up infection “because rapid tests miss more than half of people with active, contagious illness.”