MOSCOW, October 11. /TASS/. Coronavirus is on the rise in Moscow, and the introduction of express testing enables the Russian capital to avoid tightening restrictions, the anti-coronavirus crisis center reported on Monday.
"For the last two weeks the number of hospitalizations has doubled, the number of confirmed cases has increased by a factor of 1.5. Given this situation, the main task is to detect as soon as possible those who can potentially become a source of the contagion.
"By breaking the chain of the virus spread, we can postpone or even avoid imposing the strict restrictions like closing public spaces, in other words, we do not deprive the public of their usual way of life as well as do not harm city’s economy. The opportunity to take a rapid test is an example of a soft but effective way to interrupt the chain of propagation of the virus," the crisis center said.
The rapid antigen test for coronavirus infection is a rapid diagnostic that allows the diagnosis of COVID-19 in 15 minutes with a high probability, but its result does not indicate a diagnosis, but only a probability of a disease. A "coronavirus" diagnosis should be made by a physician after the PCR testing. The express test is done using the same technology (nasal swab), as the PCR, however, in order to obtain the result, the biomaterial is not sent to a laboratory, but put in a specialized solution and test system.
COVID-19 express testing has been conducted in Moscow in a test mode since July. It has shown its effectiveness: 85% of the express test cases coincide with PCR, and the share of false positive tests, according to the results of the study in the framework of the pilot project, was only 2%.