I DID THE COVID-19 ANTIGEN SALIVA TEST KIT

Today I just did the COVID-19 Antigen Saliva Test Kit Rapid Antigen Test and from the box, it’s the ECOTEST brand. The company is Assure Tech Co Ltd and it’s manufactured for Emergence Technology. I decided to do this test since I was not able to get a PCR test done in my local drive-through clinic. The queues were way too long and since it’s the Christmas and New Year period their opening hours are limited. You may have heard of this in the news that the queues are long and that the results take 48 to 72 hours. A close contact may have contracted the virus so I thought I’d get tested as well. I was planning to wait until they get their result before I take the next steps it’s now Wednesday and they still didn’t receive their results.

In any case, I had this antigen saliva self-test kit and decided to use it. I was lucky enough to have been given this kit as it’s now almost impossible to buy any. They are also expensive and it costs around $10 per test. Many retail stores have run out of stock and there is a high demand for these at the moment. This is a photo of the ECOTEST COVID-19 Antigen Saliva Test Kit that I used:

On one side of the box, it will show you the company details, the expiry date, ref code and the lot number.

On the back of the box, you will see the instructions and it’s pretty straightforward to follow.

The only thing the box doesn’t mention is not to eat, drink, smoke, brush teeth or chew gum 30 minutes before the test. You can watch the video instructions here: https://www.pathdx.com.au/salivapenhometest/

There is also a pamphlet with the instructions.

Each test kit is individually wrapped.

When I did my test the result came back negative and it took a bit longer than the 15 minutes for the line to show but it eventually did appear.

As part of the instructions, it does mention not reading the results after 30 minutes. Once your results appear there is a plastic bag where you can place the test kit and the tube cover for disposal.

There are some online retailers that are selling the rapid test kits but make sure you check the delivery dates as some maybe just take orders and fulfilling the orders when stock is available.

I will monitor for symptoms in the next few days and possibly try to get a PCR test when the queues are not as long.

https://www.tga.gov.au/covid-19-rapid-antigen-self-tests-are-approved-australia

The TGA has published a list of COVID approved Rapid Test Kits and the Clinical Sensitivity for each brand. You can find the list here: https://www.tga.gov.au/covid-19-rapid-antigen-self-tests-are-approved-australia

There are three categories of clinical sensitivity and these are:

• Acceptable sensitivity – clinical sensitivity greater than 80% PPA
• High sensitivity – clinical sensitivity greater than 90% PPA
• Very high sensitivity – clinical sensitivity greater than 95% PPA

So basically, the ones that are very high sensitivity produces more accurate results? The ECOTEST brand came back as acceptable sensitivity. The ones that are very high sensitivity are:

All Test SARS-CoV-2 Antigen Rapid Test ICOV-502H, Clungene Covid-19 Antigen Rapid test, Flowflex SARS-CoV-2 Antigen Rapid Test, LYHER Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) Antigen Test Kit, OnSite COVID-19 Ag Self Test, Rapid SARS-COV-2 Antigen Test Card Self-Test, V-Check COVID-19 Antigen Saliva Test.

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