Performance of SARS-CoV-2 rapid antigen test compared with real-time RT-PCR in asymptomatic individuals

• Main Authors: Mónica Peña, Manuel Ampuero, Carlos Garcés, Aldo Gaggero, Patricia García, María Soledad Velasquez, Ricardo Luza, Pía Alvarez, Fabio Paredes, Johanna Acevedo, Mauricio J. Farfán, Sandra Solari, Ricardo Soto-Rifo, Fernando Valiente-Echeverría
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier 2021-06-01
• Series: International Journal of Infectious Diseases
• Subjects: Rapid antigen test; RAT; SARS-CoV-2; RT-PCR; Asymptomatic
• Online Access: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1201971221003994

Screening, testing and contact tracing plays a pivotal role in control of the COVID-19 pandemic. To enable this it is necessary to increase the testing capacity. This study compared a SARS-CoV-2 rapid antigen test (RAT) and RT-PCR in 842 asymptomatic individuals from Tarapacá, Chile. A sensitivity of 69.86%, specificity of 99.61%, PPV of 94.44% and NPP of 97.22% with Ct values (Ct > 27) that were significantly higher among individuals with false-negative RAT were reported. These results support the fact that RAT might have a significant impact on the identification of asymptomatic carriers in areas that lack suitable laboratories to perform SARS-CoV-2 real-time RT-PCR diagnostics, or the results take more than 24–48 h, as well as zones with high traffic of individuals such as border/customs, airports, interregional bus, train stations or in any mass testing campaign requiring rapid results.