New Delhi, July 25: Delhi Congress president Anil Kumar on Saturday suggested that the Kejriwal government should follow up all negative rapid antigen test cases with RT-PCR tests to determine the exact number of COVID-19-affected people in the national capital.

Experts admit that rapid antigen tests are quicker for conducting testing at a large scale, and the "negative" cases should not lull the Delhi government into a false sense of security, Kumar said at a press conference. Also Read | Punjab Reports 468 New COVID-19 Cases Today, State Tally Rises to 12,684: Live News Breaking And Coronavirus Updates on July 25, 2020.

"The pandemic may surge suddenly, catching the government napping and the public in severe trouble," he added. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, earlier in the day, said people in the city, his government and the Centre have together attained victory in controlling coronavirus but the fight was not over yet. Also Read | 'Raj Bhavan Gherao' Row: Rajasthan BJP Wants Ashok Gehlot to be Booked Under 'IPC Section 124', Submits Memorandum to Governor.

The Delhi Congress president said that from June 19 to July 15, rapid antigen tests accounted for 70 per cent (2,81,555 cases) of all COVID tests in Delhi with a positivity rate of 6.92 per cent, while RT-PCR tests (1,20,505 cases) gave a positivity rate of 36.34 percent, which clearly showed the upward swing of COVID-19 cases in the capital.

"All rapid antigen negative test results should be tested at the gold standard RT-PCR to determine the correct number of corona cases in Delhi," he said.

It will be too premature to lower the guard on the Covid test-trace-treat front as the rapid antigen test being conducted in Delhi was not a foolproof method to determine the positive cases compared to the RT-PCR tests, Kumar added.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)