What is the accuracy of the antigen self-test

Antigen self-test generally refers to the new coronavirus antigen self-test, with an accuracy of over 90%. The accuracy of antigen self-test needs to be elaborated in terms of both sensitivity and specificity, which range from 36% to 82% and 98 to 100%, and most antigen rapid tests can detect more than 90% of high viral load cases. Antigen detection in addition to its own sensitivity and specificity, but also with the operator’s operation process, the first need to clean the nasal cavity, fully expose the nasal cavity, the execution of the swab tail into the nasal cavity 1 ~ 1.5 cm, and then rotate at least 4 circles, the other nasal cavity to repeat the same operation. After the operation is completed, the swab head should be impulsive preservation of liquid mixing, in the outer wall of the sampling tube to squeeze the swab head at least 5 times, time is greater than 30 seconds, waiting for a certain period of time for the results to be interpreted. Antigen test is a direct detection of the antigen of the new coronavirus, the sample must contain a large amount of antigen in order to be detected, the sensitivity is lower than the nucleic acid test, but it is fast and easy to operate. If the antigen test is positive, a nucleic acid test is needed to confirm the diagnosis.