Performance of SARS-CoV-2 rapid antigen test compared with real-time RT-PCR in asymptomatic individuals

Peña, Mónica; Ampuero, Manuel; Garcés, Carlos; Gaggero, Aldo; García, Patricia; Velasquez, María Soledad; Luza, Ricardo; Alvarez, Pía; Paredes, Fabio; Acevedo, Johanna; Farfán, Mauricio J.; Solari, Sandra; Soto-Rifo, Ricardo; Valiente-Echeverría, y Fernando

Screening, testing and contact tracing plays a pivotal role in the control of COVID-19 pandemic. To carry out this strategy it is necessary to increase the testing capacity. Here, we compared a SARS-CoV-2 rapid antigen test (RAT) and RT-PCR in 842 asymptomatic individuals from Tarapacá, Chile. We report a sensitivity of 69.86%, a specificity of 99.61%, PPV of 94.44% and NPP of 97.22% with Ct values (Ct > 27) that were significantly higher among individuals with false-negative RAT. These results support the fact that RAT might have a significant impact in the identification of asymptomatic carriers in areas that lack suitable laboratories to perform SARS-CoV-2 real-time RT-PCR diagnostics, or the results take more than 24-48 hours, as well as zones with high traffic of individuals, such as border/customs, airports, interregional bus, train stations or in any mass testing campaign requiring rapid results.