Fast tests for coronvirus will be used in Poland, health minister Lukasz Szumowski announced in the “Fakty po faktach” programme on TVN 24. However, their use will be possible in strictly defined cases.
Serological tests only help sometimes
As we informed a few days ago, the use of rapid serological tests to diagnose COVID-19 has become a question mark in Poland. All because, in the opinion of the national consultant for microbiology, they may give negative results, i.e. they may not detect the infection if the organism has not yet produced enough antibodies.
However, in view of the growing number of infections, Poland will use this kind of tests, said the Minister of Health Lukasz Szumowski in the “Fakty po faktach”. However, they will be used under strictly defined conditions. This applies, among others, to cases of patients who have had symptoms of disease for two weeks. In such people, enough antibodies are already produced for the test result to be reliable.
At present, several thousand such tests are distributed to health care institutions, soon the number is to increase to several tens of thousands.
Genetic diagnostics dominates
At present, the diagnosis of coronavirus infections in Poland is carried out using molecular tests. They give an unambiguous result, but are positive only in a few percent of potential infected people. In Poland, more than 30 laboratories perform such determinations. Recently, private laboratories such as Warsaw Genomics have joined this group.
Until 24 March, about 23,000 tests were performed, and only during the last day – 2,800. About 100,000 of such tests are distributed in the laboratories. The number of infected people diagnosed in Poland exceeded 900.
