Bangladesh continues to neglect rapid antigen tests for Covid-19, even though several other countries have already approved self-administration of the tests in an attempt to speed up the detection of positive cases. However, that did not mean that rapid antigen tests were useless. However, ICMR advised symptomatic individuals with negative results in rapid antigen tests to get RT-PCR confirmation. It also advised rapid antigen testing on a minimum 50% of passengers on inbound flights from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, and selective rapid antigen testing on passengers on all other inbound flights. Britain has been using at-home rapid antigen tests since 2020, while France allowed supermarkets to sell kits from last month.

Source: Dhaka Tribune January 13, 2022 00:23 UTC