Home-test under-reporting a worry, actual cases may be more: Doctors

KOLKATA: The surging Covid numbers being reported is just the tip of the iceberg, said doctors. With an increasing number of people — both asymptomatic and mildly symptomatic patients — using the home-test kits and not sharing the data, doctors have expressed concerns regarding under reporting.

“The number that we are currently seeing is only the tip of the iceberg.If we scale up testing using proper kits, we would see a much higher number. Though we have a fair idea about the magnitude of this wave, we do not have the clear numbers due to low reporting,” said Institute of Child Health associate professor Sumon Poddar.

Doctors said the RATs (rapid antigen test), especially the ones used for home testing, are a major concern as most users are not uploading the data. Sources said that some private hospitals are also using RAT in emergency cases, but the data is not being uploaded.“While RAT can be a good strategy to ease the pressure off RT-PCR labs, it can be no substitute for the latter. But under-reporting of cases is not a good sign as far as making public health policy is concerned. However, given the current nature of the surge, it will be no wonder if policy-makers start making health strategies considering everyone to be positive,” said IPGMER hepatology head and public health activist Abhijit Chowdhury.
TOI on January 7 reported how home testing kits are flying off the shelves at medical stores across the city. Currently, many are conducting the test using these kits as they want to avoid going to the lab or have samples collected from home.
“Most home-testing kits have a QR code. Once the user scans it, the test gets registered. But since many are not following this, it is leading to under-reporting,” said Institute of Child Health associate professor Prabhas Prasun Giri.
The government, however, has scaled up the number of tests to over 70,000 a day. The portion of RT-PCR tests has also been increased significantly over the past few weeks.
“A few weeks ago, RT-PCR tests and RAT were in the same ratio. With the number of testing labs going up, we are currently testing RT-PCR and RAT in the 7:3 ratio. We are also getting reports on a large number of home testing. But since we have no control over that, it is not possible to us to regulate,” said a senior health department official.