62 rapid antibody tests conducted in Delhi on Day 1, all samples found negative

As many as 62 COVID-19 tests using newly-acquired rapid antibody diagnostic kits were conducted on Monday in Delhi, and all samples came out negative, officials said.

The city government has acquired 42,000 such kits, and after trial runs on Sunday, the first phase of tests were conducted on Monday in a containment zone in Nabi Karim area in central Delhi.

"Sixty-two COVID-19 tests using rapid (antibody) test kits were conducted today in Nabi Karim area's containment zone and all samples came out negative," a senior official said.

The tests are being administered only in persons showing some sort of symptoms of the coronavirus infection, he said.

Meanwhile, the number of containment zones in Delhi on Monday increased to 84, with eight new zones being added in various areas, in one day, authorities said.

The West Delhi district has maximum count of containment zones in the city, they said.

The total number of coronavirus cases in the national capital on Sunday climbed to 2003, including 45 deaths.

Two kinds of diagnostic tests are being currently prescribed for use in India -- the RT-PCR test and rapid antibody test, as per global health norms.

A reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test is a laboratory technique combining reverse transcription of RNA into DNA that detects the virus while the antibody tests, which use blood, detect the body's response to the virus.

In rapid antibody test, the result will be positive only if the antibodies have been generated. So, even if a person is infected but the antibodies not generated, the result will come negative.

RT-PCR tests take time and a costly affair, because of its elaborate kit. On the other hand, the rapid antibody tests are less expensive and the results can come in 20-30 minutes, experts said.

Rapid antibody tests are generally used in hotspots where the infection is found concentrated in a given area. A hotspot is a zone from where a large number of positive cases is reported.