Nova Scotia Health says it will resume confirmation PCR testing for people who test positive on a COVID-19 rapid antigen test.
The health authority says its microbiology lab now has the capacity to resume confirmation PCR testing because it is seeing a decline in new COVID-19 cases, resulting in fewer PCR tests.
“If people test positive on a rapid antigen test, they can now choose to either isolate as a positive case or get a confirmation PCR test,” said Nova Scotia Health in a news release Thursday.
“If the confirmation PCR test is negative, they are not required to isolate and can resume normal activities (as long as they have no symptoms or once their symptoms are improving and they have no fever for at least 24 hours). If their confirmation PCR test is positive, they are required to isolate as per Public Health guidelines.”
The health authority says confirmation PCR testing helps to reduce the number of instances in which a person is isolating when they don’t need to.
Nova Scotia Health is advising that resuming confirmation PCR testing will likely result in a higher number of reported cases, as the health authority bases case numbers on positive PCR tests as opposed to rapid tests.
“This increase should be considered a more accurate picture of reported cases in Nova Scotia, rather than a reflection of a new surge of COVID-19 cases,” said Nova Scotia Health.
Confirmation PCR COVID-19 testing was put on hold in December at the height of the Omicron surge due to the high testing demands on the lab.
