BRAC to begin antigen tests from Saturday

BRAC has announced to begin antigen-based rapid testing for suspected Covid-19 patients to provide results in a comparatively shorter period.

The service will run under the overall supervision of the Directorate General of Health Services from Saturday with 16 booths primarily -- 15 in Dhaka and one in Chattogram.

A press release on Friday signed by Mahbubul Alam Kabir, senior media manager of BRAC, confirmed the matter.

‘’A person must make an appointment online to get the service. The BRAC staff employed at the booths will assess the symptoms and case history of the suspect to decide whether it will be an antigen test or an RT-PCR test,’’ said the press release.

BRAC press release also said that if the result of a sample analysed via antigen testing detects the presence of novel coronavirus, the service seeker would be notified within 30 minutes.

Results of a patient tested ‘positive’ via antigen testing would be uploaded to the website within three to four hours, the press release read.

A service seeker must log on to coronatest.brac.net and select the ‘Covid identification for tomorrow’ tab. The answer must be ‘yes’ to any of the three questions asked in the tab.

He/she will have to select the district or city and then the nearest booth of his/her location.

In the third step, the person must click on the ‘I agree and want a Covid-19 test’ option. Clicking on the button will create an application form to be filled with necessary information.

To complete the application, he/she has to enter the Nagad app and click on the tab ‘Bill Pay’ where there will be an option saying ‘fee for covid-19 sample collection’. The service seeker needs to select ‘MOHFW Covid19 Test Booth’ there and pay Tk 100.

Successful payment will generate a transaction code. People paying the fee from Nagad App will get a code from the app, while people paying from the website will receive the code in an SMS.

In the final stage, the person must enter a transaction number in the website to complete the application. Confirmation of the application will be sent via an SMS. The results of the test will also be delivered in the same way.