Govt has approved rapid antibody test for Covid-19: health minister
The government has approved rapid antibody test for Covid-19.
Health Minister Zahid Maleque informed of the development while talking to journalists today at his office in the Secretariat.
The minister said, "There has been demand for the approval of antibody test for long. Now we have approved it."
The antibody test looks for past presence of the virus and a possible immune response to the infection.
There had been strong recommendation from the National Technical Advisory Committee (NTAC) on Covid-19 to introduce both the antigen and antibody based rapid testing for Covid-19 for months.
On June 24, the drug administration published a notice on its website, saying kits with minimum 90 percent sensitivity and 95 percent specificity will be approved.
However, there had been no further progress in this regard despite strong recommendations from experts.
On September 17, the government permitted antigen-based rapid testing at public healthcare centres.
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