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DGHS keeps on dragging its feet
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Bangladesh has so far relied on the RT-PCR tests -- considered the gold standard for Covid-19 detection -- ever since the pandemic hit the country in March. The country is ranked at the bottom in the world in terms of conducting Covid-19 tests considering its population of over 160 million.
Only one suspected case is being tested for approximately 100,499 people, shows a recent Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control, and Research (IEDCR) data.
The decision to launch antigen testing was taken primarily to increase the testing capacity at district hospitals where RT-PCR facilities are not available and also at specialised hospitals to treat critical patients.
An antigen test reveals if a person is currently infected with a pathogen, and it involves taking a saliva sample. It can usually determine whether a patient is acutely infected and contagious within 15 minutes.
Although an antigen test is less accurate than a complete PCR analysis, the major advantages are quick results and the possibility to use it directly on site, according to experts.
Globally, only a few companies out of around a hundred have been able to develop rapid testing kits with proper efficacy and sensitivity and a few countries are using it. India is using antigen kits for massive testing.
On Monday, the World Health Organization (WHO) authorised antigen-based rapid diagnostic tests and announced it will make some 120 million tests available for low- and middle-income countries at a maximum of $5 per unit.
Initially, the government decided to use 3,000 antigen kits daily at a limited number of public hospitals. That will be increased to 10,000 in 10 specialised and 39 district hospitals where RT-PCR testing machines are not available, according to the “Proposal on Rapid Antigen Test” prepared by the health ministry that laid out the testing protocol.
“We have sent the proposal back. It includes the testing protocol -- who will be tested and when etc.,” Prof Tahmina Shirin, director of the IEDCR, told The Daily Star on Sunday.
The DGDA has set 90 percent sensitivity and 95 percent specificity as the standard for the approval of any antigen kit, the proposal mentioned.
The Daily Star has obtained a copy of the proposal that also viewed that “not more than two or three” organisations in the world have the ability to fulfil the DGDA standard, which is similar to the USA’s FDA.
URGENT NEED
Experts, however, stressed on the immediate launching of antigen-based rapid testing kits.
“[Using] rapid antigen kit is urgent to separate the suspected carriers of the virus easily. It will also greatly help non-covid-19 patients get treatment timely,” Prof Ridwanur Rahman, an infectious disease specialist told The Daily Star on Sunday.
“If any kit shows 50 percent sensitivity, it means the kit will detect at least 50 percent of patients correctly and that will be great help in suppressing the virus’ transmission.”
He believes that the government should have permitted the use of Gonoshasthaya Kendra’s rapid testing kits instead of ruling it out for not meeting their desired standard.
“When we have few options, we have to use what we have. Many African countries like Nigeria and Ivory Coast are using their own rapid testing technologies. If the [Gonoshasthaya] kits were okayed, at least 50 percent of the undetected cases could have been detected,” he observed.
Prof Nazrul Islam, member of the National Technical Advisory Committee on Covid-19, told The Daily Star on Sunday that the Directorate General of Drug Administration (DGDA) -- who will give the no-objection certificate based on certain criteria -- may revisit the set of standards considering the reality of the situation and limited options.
“But there must be a testing protocol to take the best advantage of the rapid test kits,” Prof Nazrul added.
DAILY COUNTS
Yesterday, 12,869 samples were tested across the country and 1,488 new infections were recorded. With the new infections, the total number of people infected is 3,62,043, according to a press release issued by the DGHS.
Twenty-six people died from Covid-19 in the country during the 24 hours till 8:00am yesterday, taking the death toll to 5,219.
The death rate stands at 1.44 percent while the total positivity rate stands at 18.72 percent, said the press release.

Amnesty Int’l
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and Kashmir region as well as what it said was a lack of police accountability during riots in Delhi in February, and the government had sought to punish it, it said.
There was no immediate response from government spokesmen to requests for comment.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has faced accusations that it is clamping down on dissent, including in Muslim-majority Kashmir, where insurgents have battled government forces for more than 30 years.
Critics also say the government is pushing a Hindu-first agenda, undermining the secular foundations of India’s democracy and raising fears among its 170 million Muslim minority.
The government denies any bias against any community.
Opposition politician Shashi Tharoor said Amnesty’s exit was a blow.
“India’s stature as a liberal democracy with free institutions, including media & civil society organisations, accounted for much of its soft power in the world. Actions like this both undermine our reputation as a democracy & vitiate our soft power,” he said on Twitter.
Critics of the organization, however, cheered its departure, posting comments on Twitter such as “good riddance” and accusing the group of turning a blind eye to hate crimes against Hindus elsewhere in the region.
The group has in the past fallen foul of Indian governments, including one run by the centrist Congress party, and this would be the fifth time it had ceased operations, its former head, Aakar Patel, said.
‘FREEZING DISSENT’
Amnesty said that this time, the federal financial crimes investigation agency, the Enforcement Directorate, had targeted it because of its work on human rights.
“The constant harassment by government agencies including the Enforcement Directorate is a result of our unequivocal calls for transparency in the government,” said Avinash Kumar, executive director of Amnesty International India.
“For a movement that has done nothing but raise its voices against injustice, this latest attack is akin to freezing dissent,” he said.
Amnesty and other groups have accused police of complicity in the riots in Delhi in which at least 50 people were killed, most of them Muslims.
Police denied the allegation.
The government has been tightening oversight of foreign non-governmental groups (NGOs), they say.
Last year, the environmental group Greenpeace said it had to shut two offices in India and had asked many staff to leave because of a block on its bank account after accusations of illegal donations.
Last week, the government enacted changes in the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Amendment Bill setting new conditions for organisations. Some NGOs said the measures seeking tighter control of funds were aimed at creating an air of distrust.
Kumar said more than four million Indians had supported Amnesty’s work in the last eight years and about 100,000 Indians had donated money.