Bangkok battles rising contagion with rapid antigen tests

The Nation/Asia News Network

BANGKOK — Rapid antigen tests are the latest weapon being deployed by Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) in its battle against the wave of Covid-19 infections threatening to swamp the capital.

Bangkok Governor Aswin Kwanmuang said BMA has so far deployed officials to conduct rapid Covid-19 tests on Bangkokians living in six districts.

“Antigen test kits are being used at six testing stations to facilitate residents and speed up proactive testing,” he said. The test kits provide results within 30 minutes and are over 90 per cent accurate, he added.

People who get a negative result after taking an antigen test will be allowed to return home, while those who test positive must take an RT-PCR test to confirm the infection, he said.

“This method enables the BMA to conduct tests on 1,000 to 2,000 people per day and laboratories to return test results within two days,” he said.

He added that the National Health Security Office (NHSO) will offer the home/community isolation service or hospitalization to people whose rapid antigen test comes back positive.

Bangkok registered 2,573 new infections on Monday as the country logged a new daily high of 15,376 Covid-19 cases, with 87 deaths.

Of them 11,064 have been infected locally, 3,257 were found via proactive tests, 1,041 were inmates and 14 were returnees.