Macau Daily Times

Rapid antigen tests not going to replace NAT

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WHEN questioned about the recent changes to the Macau Health Code and the possibilit­y of people doing rapid antigen self-tests and reporting their results to the system, Dr. Leong Iek Hou said that antigen tests are only complement­ary to nucleic acid tests (NAT) and that the authoritie­s will not allow the replacing of NAT with just a rapid antigen test. “Antigen tests are only complement­ary [to NAT]. We are not going to replace the NAT with them,” she said, explaining, “They are less sensitive and accurate and can provide a lot of false results. These [antigen tests] are most useful during an outbreak where we need to minimize movement and still ensure some feedback from people [in home isolation], but not in a situation where there is no severe outbreak, no lack of NAT resources, and no severe risks in doing them.”

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