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Health




         All About


         Covid Tests













        In the midst of the information overload on Covid-19 tests, Dr Alok Pal Singh
        explains what is what



         The topic that has taken over our lives and        Diagnosis of Covid should ideally be
         one which everyone in the world is worried         confirmed with a laboratory test since
         about is Covid-19 (referred to hereafter           other viral infections like flu can also cause
         as Covid). This is also sometimes simply           similar symptoms.
         referred to as Coronavirus, which can be           If you do have any one of these symptoms,
         misleading since other types of human              you’re advised to see a doctor who may
         coronaviruses also exist and cause the             advise you to undergo a diagnostic test for
         common cold among other things. Covid              Covid detection. If you have none of these
         is specifically caused by a new and novel          symptoms but have recently have come in
         strain of the virus that emerged from              contact with a person who had Covid there
         Wuhan, China in December 2019 called               may still be a chance that you have Covid,
         the SARS-Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2).               but are asymptomatic.
         As there is no proven specific treatment for       The diagnostic tests available in your
         this virus to date and vaccination is under        local hospital or testing center may be for
         development, our best strategy at present          screening or confirmation of Covid.
         is to avoid contact with someone who is            The tests available for diagnosing Covid
         suspected or has confirmed Covid.                  have differences in terms of targets in the
                                                            virus or human body, reporting times and
         Possible symptoms                                  performance assessed by the sensitivity
         Suspicious symptoms of Covid include:              and specificity of the test. Sensitivity is the
         Fever                                              ability of a test to correctly identify patients
         Cough                                              with a disease, whereas specificity is the
         Shortness of breath                                ability of a test to correctly identify people
         Tiredness                                          without the disease.
         Sore throat
         Headache                                           What tests are available?
         Loss of taste or smell                             A brief description of the currently


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