Test results may come out negative even if one has contracted COVID-19, experts have warned, advising that those showing symptoms of the disease must be treated without waiting for a confirmatory test toprevent aggravation of the infection. There have been several cases where patients showing clinical symptoms of COVID-19 have tested negativefor the virus multipletimes.They were confirmed positive after repeated tests, doctors said.
 
The general perception of the experts now is that a high degree of suspicion arising out of the clinical symptomatologyand the CT scan reports should be the guidingfactor for treatment rather than relying only on the RT-PCR test which has a sensitivity of only 70 per cent,DrNeerajGupta, professor in the Department of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine at the Safdarjung Hospital in Delhi, said. Even the rapid antigen test has a sensitivity of only 40 per cent.

Test results may come out negative even if one has contracted COVID-19, experts have warned, advising that those showing symptoms of the disease must be treated without waiting for a confirmatory test toprevent aggravation of the infection. There have been several cases where patients showing clinical symptoms of COVID-19 have tested negativefor the virus multipletimes.They were confirmed positive after repeated tests, doctors said.
 
The general perception of the experts now is that a high degree of suspicion arising out of the clinical symptomatologyand the CT scan reports should be the guidingfactor for treatment rather than relying only on the RT-PCR test which has a sensitivity of only 70 per cent,DrNeerajGupta, professor in the Department of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine at the Safdarjung Hospital in Delhi, said. Even the rapid antigen test has a sensitivity of only 40 per cent.