As COVID-19 spreads faster than ever, the demand for tests has also grown rapidly, with many countries asking people to use self-administered rapid antigen tests at home.
In Taiwan, more than 400 locally transmitted cases of COVID-19 were reported last month, many of whom were infected with the highly transmissible Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2.
The Omicron variant, which was first reported in South Africa in late November, has fast become the dominant circulating strain, fueling a record-breaking surge of new COVID-19 cases around the world.
Photo: Wu Cheng-Ting, Taipei Times
Common observation is that people infected with the Omicron variant appear to have milder symptoms than previous variants, and hospitalization and death rates have dropped in many countries, compared with previous phases of the pandemic.
A report by Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Deputy Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞), deputy head of the Central Epidemic Command Center’s (CECC) medical response division, last week said that among 391 local infections reported before Saturday last week, 41 percent had no symptoms and 59 percent had mild symptoms.
Not one had moderate or severe symptoms, he added.
Common Omicron symptoms reported in other countries are upper respiratory tract symptoms similar to the flu or common cold — the same ones observed in Lo’s report: Among the 229 local cases with mild symptoms, 51 percent had a sore throat, 48 percent had a cough, 29 percent had a fever and 26 percent had a stuffy or runny nose.
The rapid at-home tests, which usually involves swabbing the inside of a nostril for about 15 seconds, inserting the swab into a liquid in a tube, squeezing the tube to place a couple of drops of liquid on a test strip and waiting 15 to 20 minutes for the result, can be easily performed by people who are not healthcare professionals.
The UK government rolled out free home-delivered rapid tests in April last year, encouraging people without symptoms to use rapid tests regularly, especially when they are likely to catch or spread the virus, such as before going to a crowded indoor gathering or visiting someone who is at a higher risk of developing severe COVID-19 symptoms, or after exposure to a confirmed case.
The US government last month also launched a free rapid test program, allowing each household to order four free at-home rapid antigen tests delivered to their home.
For early detection of cases in local communities, the CECC has since Jan. 1 expanded the number of designated clinics that offer government-funded at-home rapid test kits from 86 to 272, and encouraged people with respiratory symptoms to go to one of the clinics and use the rapid test at home.
After two large clusters of local infections were reported in Taoyuan and Kaohsiung, Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) on Monday last week said that there might be undetected infections in local communities, so people with upper respiratory tract symptoms should ask for a free antigen testing kit when seeking medical attention at clinics and report the results.
Taoyuan Mayor Cheng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦) on the same day ordered all healthcare facilities in the city to test patients who have upper respiratory symptoms for COVID-19, or refer them to designated hospitals for testing.
Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) also urged city residents who have cold-like symptoms to use a rapid antigen test at home, before seeking medical attention, and call the CDC’s toll-free 1922 hotline or the Taipei Department of Health’s disease prevention hotline (02-23753782) if they test positive.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) last week said that because many people are expected to attend family gatherings, visit relatives and friends, and travel during the Lunar New Year holiday, they should pay close attention to their health if they visited locations visited by confirmed COVID-19 cases around the same time.
It also encouraged them to purchase at-home rapid test kits at convenience stores, drug or cosmetics stores, if they are concerned or suspect they might have been infected.
When purchasing a rapid test kit, people should pick up one for use at home and check their manufacturing or import approval number and expiration date, the FDA said.
As at-home COVID-19 rapid test kits are classified as a class 3 medical device, they can only be sold at stores with a medical device distributor license, and cannot be sold online.
The FDA has issued manufacturing approvals for four types of rapid test kits and import approvals for 11 types, including one that detects nucleic acid from SARS-CoV-2 rather than antigens.
The list can be found on the agency’s Web site.
Before performing the test, people should carefully read the instructions or watch the manufacturer’s instruction video, it added.
People who test positive while in home quarantine or isolation should contact their local health department or call the CDC’s 1922 hotline, the FDA said.
Non-quarantined or isolated people who test positive should put all the used items in the test kit into a sealed plastic bag, wear a mask and bring it to a healthcare provider at a community COVID-19 testing station as soon as possible, without taking public transport, it added.
People who test negative using at-home rapid tests should also put the used test kit into a sealed plastic bag and dispose of it as regular trash, but they should still follow the CECC’s public health guidelines, practice personal protective measures and continue to monitor their health, it said.
As a rapid antigen test has lower sensitivity than a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test, it can sometimes show a negative result when the virus level is low, so a PCR test, which is a type of molecular test that detects the virus’ RNA, is still more accurate and remains the “gold standard” for diagnosing COVID-19, it added.
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