Conclusion
The study findings indicate that the DG Rapid and SD Rapid kits can be
considered reliable substitutes for rRT-PCR in detecting SARS-CoV-2
infection, particularly in areas with scarce resources and limited
access to PCR testing. The study also indicates that these test kits
exhibit a high level of sensitivity in samples with Ct values lower than
29.99, indicating that they would have good performance in patients with
a high viral load (Ct values ≤29.99). These findings support the use of
rapid antigen tests as an alternative diagnostic tool for COVID-19.
This study recommends a continuous quality assessment program by
relevant regulatory and monitoring agencies to not allow a potential
positive case to return with a false negative result. Given these
findings, we also recommend a further study with a larger fresh sample
size to be done on the other existing COVID-19 RDT kits on the Ghanaian
market, as rRT-PCR testing is expensive and ubiquitously unavailable.