Scope of antibody tests rigid despite panel push

The Union health ministry on Saturday kept rapid antibody tests limited to people in high-risk areas (containment zones), “large migration gatherings” and evacuation centres, and did not open up the test to the private sector, overlooking recommendations by its high-level Covid-19 technical experts committee.

According to five people with direct knowledge of the matter, the 21-member technical committee -- it includes some of India’s most prominent medical and public health experts -- wanted the government to open rapid antibody testing to “everyone at risk”, including those outside hot spot areas. It had also recommended that the scale of antibody testing be enhanced by involving the private sector.

If accepted, these recommendations would have made the rapid antibody test accessible to both symptomatic and asymptomatic people who don’t fall within the rigid testing parameters in place at the moment.

In a Saturday advisory issued by the Union health ministry, however, the Union government did not ease the testing criteria. “It is an evolving situation. We are changing protocols every two or three days to step up our response to the situation,” said a senior ICMR official, when asked about why the recommendation was not heeded.

He spoke on condition of anonymity. On April 2, ICMR’s interim advisory expanded rapid antibody testing to hot spot areas.

Unlike the RT-PCR test that detects the virus’s genetic material (RNA) in throat swabs to diagnose a current Covid-19 infection, rapid antibody tests indicate if a person has been infected in the past and has developed and immunity to the virus. Experts say they can also be used as a screening test for the infection -- antibodies typically show up a week after the infection.

The simple blood test (samples can be collected by just a finger prick) which takes 15-20 minutes to give results, identifies people who were infected at least a week before the test, and also those who were infected but never diagnosed, helping map undetected infections and giving the correct extent of the spread of the disease.

While China and Singapore have used antibody tests to scale up testing and track infections, Germany, Italy, Britain and the US, plan to use it to get those who are immune back to work, keep those infected quarantined, and those with no immunity locked down.

The US approved the country’s first antibody test on Friday.