Rapid antigen testing to begin in Sri Lanka soon – Chief Epidemiologist

November 7, 2020 09:35 am

The use of Rapid Antigen Covid-19 test, which provides results in just 20 minutes, is expected to begin in the country soon, says the Chief Epidemiologist Dr. Sudath Samaraweera.

He added that the World Health Organization (WHO) has recommended the antigen-based rapid diagnostic test to identify Covid-19 cases in addition to the PCR testing.

“At the moment we are validating in our country to see whether this is a suitable test for us,” he said further.

A team of medical experts have been appointed to review the usage criteria for this test, and the review reports are expected to be received by the end of this week, Dr. Samaraweera revealed.

The government on Wednesday (04) imported 200,000 test kits from South Korea and it is reported that 800,000 more test kits are to be imported to Sri Lanka in the coming week.

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