Real world clinical performance of SARS-CoV-2 rapid antigen tests in suspected COVID-19 cases in Taiwan

摘要

Taiwan experienced its first large-scale outbreak of the SARS-CoV-2 infection at the beginning of May 2021. 1 With no prior community outbreaks, the capacity of reverse tran- scription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) at the time was unable to accommodate the testing need from the rapid increase in number of cases. The Taipei City govern- ment soon faces the threat of inadequate disease control resulting from untimely quarantine measures, mainly due to delayed obtainment of the RT-PCR results, in some cases up to 1 week. The Taipei City government later adopted a new quarantine policy based on a single rapid antigen test instead of rapid antigen tests and the RT-PCR results for COVID-19. Experts have raised concerns about the potential inaccuracy of the rapid antigen test due to the lack of clinical performance data of various test kits, low COVID-19 prevalence in Taiwan, and the lack of experience of healthcare workers in performing the rapid antigen test, which might result in unreliable results.