COVID-19 Rapid Antigen Tests – Public Health Expert, University of Otago, New Zealand

Dr Jennifer Summers, Assoc Prof James Ussher, Assoc Prof Nikki Moreland, Dr Leah Grout, Prof Nick Wilson, Prof Michael Baker*

Most COVID-19 testing aims to identify infected people. To date, Aotearoa NZ has relied almost exclusively on Nucleic Acid Amplification Tests (NAATs) for this purpose. However, Rapid Antigen Tests (RATs) have a complementary role, particularly if COVID-19 infection becomes widespread. In this blog we briefly describe RATs, their performance, and how they could be used to further improve Aotearoa NZ’s COVID-19 response.

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Using Rapid Antigen Tests to Improve COVID-19 Control in Aotearoa NZ

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