After tossing us for two years, the new crown virus still breaks out from time to time, especially in Omicron recently, many places in the country have been recruited. Omicron has the characteristics of high infectivity, strong concealment, and many asymptomatic infections, so just relying on our routine nucleic acid testing will consume a lot of manpower and material resources, and there are even some problems caused by the nucleic acid process. spread.
Recently, the State Food and Drug Administration issued a notice approving the official launch of five COVID-19 self-testing products. So, what exactly is the new crown antigen self-test? What’s the point?
What is an antigen test? How is it different from nucleic acid testing?
Currently, the methods for detecting the new coronavirus mainly include nucleic acid detection, antibody detection, antigen detection and other methods. Among them, nucleic acid detection is basically experienced by everyone. Nucleic acid testing, as the name suggests, is to detect the nucleic acid of the virus, that is, the genes inside the virus, but because it requires professionals to operate, it is necessary to queue up for testing at a special place and wait for medical staff to complete the test.
Antibody testing requires blood sample collection, which is more demanding than nucleic acid testing such as throat swabs. It is generally carried out in scientific research institutions and is not suitable for large-scale promotion. Antigen detection is to detect the outer “shell” of the virus. This detection can be tested by yourself without environmental restrictions, which can speed up the detection speed. The National Health and Medical Commission also issued a notice, suggesting that on the basis of nucleic acid testing, antigen testing should be added as a supplement. Therefore, antigen detection can be used as an important auxiliary means to find the source of infection, which helps to save medical resources and perform hierarchical detection.
Who is a good candidate for self-assessment?
The National Health and Medical Commission has clearly stipulated the applicable population of antigen detection in the “New Coronavirus Antigen Detection Application Plan (Trial)”:
(1) Within the past 5 days Persons who have respiratory symptoms, fever and other symptoms and go to primary medical institutions for treatment;
(2) Persons who are under quarantine observation, including home quarantine observation, close and sub-close contact, entry quarantine observation, closed area and control
(3) Other community residents who need antigen self-testing can purchase antigen test reagents for self-testing through retail pharmacies, online sales platforms and other channels.
What should I pay attention to when taking the self-test?
(1) Read the manual carefully
Be sure to read it carefully before testing Instructions, check whether the items in the antigen self-test kit are missing and damaged, and follow the instructions in the instructions. Generally, colloidal gold test strips need to be performed at a temperature of 14-30 °C to avoid excessive cold, heat or excessive humidity. The result is abnormal.
(2) Ready to use
The kit should be used as soon as possible after opening, usually within 1 hour, and it is recommended to use it if it exceeds 1 hour New test card.
(3) Don’t panic if you have a positive test.
As a supplementary method, there may also be a “false positive” situation. If the test is positive, don’t panic, report it to the community (village) immediately, cooperate with local epidemic prevention and control measures, and wait for further testing by medical staff.
What should I do with the used self-test?
If the test result is positive, put all the used utensils, including sampling swabs, sampling tubes, test cards, etc. in a sealed bag, and then wait for professionals to deal with it. If the test result is negative, these utensils can be placed in a sealed bag and disposed of as general waste.
Conclusion
As a supplementary method, COVID-19 antigen detection can be used for screening specific populations. It is beneficial to improve the ability of “early detection”, timely check and control the source of infection, and realize “dynamic clearing”.
References:
1. Comprehensive Group of the State Council’s Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism for the Novel Coronavirus Pneumonia Epidemic