Thailand’s National Health Security Office (NHSO) says that the accuracy of Antigen Test Kits (ATK) for COVID-19 testing has been found to be adequate for self-testing at home.
NHSO Secretary-General Dr Jadej Thammatacharee said the NHSO, along with the Public Health Ministry and the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration, conducted COVID-19 tests using ATKs on 50,000 people and found that 10% were infected.
He said the results were rechecked using the Real Time Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) test which found only a 3% discrepancy rate, indicating that ATKs are sufficiently accurate. The kits can be used to conduct tests at home.
Dr Jadej said the NHSO is procuring more kits and asking disease control officials to distribute them to the public. The office is also cooperating with over 200 local clinics, 69 health centers in Bangkok and local hospitals across the country to conduct COVID-19 tests using ATKs.
