Correlation between PCR and antigen tests and COVID-19 infection in Colombia

Correlación entre las pruebas PCR y Antígeno y el contagio por COVID-19 en Colombia

Introduction: On December 2019, there was an outbreak of cases of unknown origin pneumonia, detected in Wuhan city, Hubei Province, China, currently known as COVID-19 disease. SARS-CoV-2 is transmitted from person to person contact and through secretions of infected persons, mainly respiratory droplets. Objective: to show if there is any correlation of PCR and antigen testing for COVID-19 and COVID-19 infections between January 1 and April 22 2021. Methodology: this research focused on the PCR and antigen samples processed for COVID-19 and the number of infections, using the data released by the National Institute of Health. Results: the p-value of the tests for variables PCR and antigen samples, and COVID-19 infections, which is 0.000, is less than α =0.01, thus the hypothesis (Ha) is accepted, that is Pearson´s correlation indicates there is a relationship between PCR and antigen tests for COVID-19 and the number of COVID-19 infections. Conclusion: the use of PCR and antigen tests is related with the number of COVID-19 infections, that is, as the values of PCR and antigen tests increase, the number of COVID-19 infections also increase and vice versa.

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