DOH says rapid antibody tests cannot be used to screen persons for COVID-19

August 5, 2020

Checking if people had coronavirus disease (COVID-19) should never be done through rapid antibody tests (RATs).

The Department of Health (DOH) made this statement Wednesday following calls for prohibiting the use of this method where blood is extracted from a person to find if he has COVID-19.

"We have always emphasized and have already included in our protocols that RATs cannot be used to screen individuals for COVID-19," said Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire in an interview.

"There is still use for RATs, but not for screening and detecting if an individual has the virus or not," said Vergeire.

On Tuesday, several medical organizations and societies pressed for banning RATs in screening workers.

Health professionals claimed  the lack of accuracy of RATs only contributes to the spread of the infections since they are unable to detect COVID-19 cases.

The DOH always said the Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) test is the gold standard for COVID-19 testing.

"The DOH reiterates its call to companies that we do not recommend mass screening of employees, and we do not also recommend the use of RATs to screen workers returning to work," she said.

"It is a call being done by the DOH so that companies may avoid using RATs for screening," said Vergeire.

In May, Presidential Adviser for Entrepreneurship Joey Concepcion strongly pushed for using RATs in screening employees. DMS