RAT TESTS IN KASHMIR
Government has finally decided to introduce a rapid antigen test (RAT) in Jammu and Kashmir, particularly for testing incoming air and road passengers and for contact-tracing in containment zones, is proving to be a game changer in disease containment efforts in the Union Territory.
Earlier governments used to block the roads of contaminants zones by barbed wires and not doing anything for rapid testing in such areas. With the result such containments huge chunks of population has resulted in further dent to the financial health of the people as the administration so far has been only going for lockdowns to contain the virus in Kashmir valley.
According to the media reports RAT gives results within 15 minutes as against the RT-PCR, which normally takes at-least one to two days, creating difficulties both for the travellers and the administration due to the provision of mandatory quarantine for incoming passengers till their test results come out.
Kashmir has suffered already a lot due to the Covid lockdown as the authorities only contained people in the homes without going for rapid testing and providing other medical facilities to the people.
With the result the Covid curve has only increased in Kashmir valley despite a five month long lockdown. Now the government has lifted the restrictions and even the measures like RAT will show the results after some time while as Covid positive cases are only increasing in Kashmir valley with each passing day.
