Nearly half of Covid positive cases went unreported in April as many people opted for home antigen testing. The survey, conducted by LocalCircles claimed that 42 per cent of Delhi-NCR residents who had symptoms and took a Covid test in the last 30 days, only took the rapid antigen self test.
Only one in three respondents covered in the survey from Delhi-NCR took an RT-PCR test in the last 30 days, while the majority opted for at-home antigen testing, pointing to a sizable undercounting of daily caseloads, the survey contended.
The survey received 16,000 responses from residents from across Delhi-NCR districts. Over 62 per cent respondents were male while 38 per cent were female.
"Residents of Delhi-NCR cities of Gurugram, Noida, Ghaziabad, and Faridabad have been writing on LocalCircles how most people in their family, friends are just opting for the at-home antigen test and not even taking the RT-PCR test anymore,” it said.
“Positives from these at-home tests are not reported anywhere and the Government data do not count them in official case figures," LocalCircles claimed. The survey asked, “In the last one month when you or family members had some symptoms and needed a Covid test (non-travel), what type of test did you undertake?” In response, seven per cent said “RT-PCR several times”, another seven per cent said “RT-PCR once/twice”.
The survey said at least 11 per cent said “Rapid Antigen Test multiple times”, and seven per cent said “Rapid Antigen Test once/twice” while 57 per cent of the respondents, or 9,608, said they did not take any test in last one month. Data from the 7,248 individuals who confirmed taking the Covid test showed that 17 per cent of them took “RT-PCR several times”, and 16 per cent took “RT-PCR once/twice”.
The survey further said that 26 per cent took “Rapid Antigen Test multiple times”, and 16 per cent took “Rapid Antigen Test once/twice”. Around 16 per cent took “Mainly Rapid Antigen Test and RT-PCR test once/twice”, while nine per cent couldn't say which test was taken by them.
"With the 42 per cent Delhi-NCR residents who took the at-home rapid antigen test post symptoms not being in the official numbers, they are clearly understated by that much," LocalCircles claimed.