A 26-year-old man from Kalyan tested COVID-19 positive on Saturday after taking rapid antigen test at Rukminibai Hospital, and later tested negative after he took swab test the next day at a private lab.
The incident has surprised the authorties and has raised doubts over testing at civic hospitals.
“I was surprised when I got a negative report, a day after my antigen test came positive at Rukminibai Hospital. As citizens don’t understand medical terms, there needs to be better transparency in the reports. Now I don’t know which report should I believe in,” the man said.
According to Prashant Patil, secretary, Indian Medical Association’s (IMA)) Kalyan chapter, said that the viral load of a person with good immunity can come down within 24 to 48 hours. “This must have happened with the man too. If his antigen test has come positive, the virus exists in the patient and he should follow strict isolation norms. There are various factors such as clinical acumen, CT scan of lungs and RT-PCR ‘reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction’ tests that together help in diagnosing if a patient is positive.”
Dr Pratibha Panpatil, health officer, Kalyan Dombivli Municipal Corporation (KDMC), said, “The results can differ depending on the viral load in the body, especially if the testing is done on different days.”
The civic hospital after his tests came positive asked the man to home quarantine himself as he was asymptomatic.
Meanwhile, the total number of cases in KDMC on Tuesday was 16,602 and deaths to 264.