Health Minister Zahid Maleque virtually launched the testing process on Saturday. The tests will be available in the districts of Gaibandha, Munshiganj, Panchagarh, Madaripur, Brahmanbaria, Jashore, Meherpur, Sylhet, Joypurhat and Patuakhali, all of which lacked the RT-PCR testing facilities. If a person's antigen test results come back negative for the virus, the sample will be retested using the RT-PCR procedure, he said. However, the RT-PCR tests can take a long time to return a result and is costly too. Alternatively, the antigen-based rapid tests will speed up the testing process, returning results within half an hour.

Source: bd News24 December 05, 2020 08:03 UTC