Dual testing for SARS Covid-19 in asymptomatic medico-legal cases: Experience and suggestions

Abstract

Context: A person caught by police known as a Medical Legal Case (MLC) should be negative for Covid-19 before they are presented in court. Police officers always insist on collecting a sample from MLC patients for both the rapid antigen test (RAT) and reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RTPCR). Using both tests for the same patient at the same time is a waste of resources. The aim of the study is to analyze and compare Covid-19 RAT and RTPCR testing results in MLC cases and to find out the need to prevent resource wasting due to dual tests. Methods: The study was conducted for 6 months on all the MLC patients who were brought by the police officer for Covid-19 testing at the center. Oropharyngeal or nasopharyngeal swabs were collected in viral transport media for Covid-19 RTPCR and RAT test. RAT is performed at the collection center, while viral transport media is transported to an authorized testing center for RTPCR. Result: All 156 patients’ RAT and RTPCR tests were performed as per requirements and rules. Only two specimens (1.28%) reported positive for Covid-19 in RTPCR and other samples (98.71%) reported negative for Covid-19 in RTPCR, while all 156 samples (100%) were reported negative for Covid-19 by RAT test. Conclusion: As per the current study, we can consider the RAT results for presenting the criminal person to court, but for sending them to prison, RTPCR is recommended to prevent the spread of disease.