VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Japan plans to approve its first coronavirus antigen testing kits on Wednesday, a health ministry official said, to boost the number of diagnostic tests available to battle the pandemic. Fujirebio, a subsidiary of Japanese diagnostics and laboratory testing service provider Miraca Holdings, last month applied for government approval for its antigen kit. Antigen tests scan for proteins found on or inside a virus, and typically test a sample taken from the nasal cavity using swabs. The tests can detect the virus quickly but produce false negatives at a higher rate than the currently dominant PCR, or polymerase chain reaction, tests. Japan has reported about 16,680 confirmed infections, including 712 from the cruise ship previously quarantined in Yokohama, and 670 deaths to date, public broadcaster NHK said.

Although those tallies are relatively low given its population of 126 million, critics say the low rate of testing has made it difficult to trace the virus, which has led to a series of in-hospital infections, crippling some facilities. Health Minister Katsunobu Kato said that faced with criticism, Japan eased access to PCR tests this month. Antigen tests, once approved, will likely supplement PCR tests. Demand for rapid testing kits has surged with governments scrambling to contain the pandemic that has infected more than 4 million people worldwide and killed over 285,000//JP