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