However, the tests do return considerably more false negatives. In other words, very few people who do not have the virus which causes Covid-19 will be told wrongly that they do have it, after doing a lateral flow test. 99.68% of people who did not have the virus received a negative test result. These tests, made by Innova, return very few false positives. The tests being trialled, most notably in Liverpool, are the furthest along this testing process, and details of their accuracy were published recently.
RAPID LATERAL FLOW TEST FREE
You can help us take action – and get our regular free emailĪ number of different lateral flow tests have been put forward to be tested by Public Health England and the University of Oxford, and their accuracy has varied in testing.
If this sounds familiar, that may be because pregnancy tests are also a type of lateral flow test, which detect the “pregnancy hormone” human chorionic gonadotropin. If these proteins are present, that will show as a coloured line on the test. The swab is added to a liquid, which is then applied to the end of the pad.Ī strip on the pad is coated in antibodies which bind to proteins on the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
In the case of Covid-19 tests, samples are taken from the patient’s throat and nose using a swab. The liquid is drawn along the pad via capillary action (in a similar way to how liquid wax is drawn up a candle wick).Īt a point along the pad, there are strips coated with components which react with the material of interest. With a lateral flow test, a liquid sample is placed on a small absorbent pad. These tests do not require lab processing and so can return a result much quicker than a PCR test. Now the government is piloting a new diagnostic test, called a lateral flow test, for detecting the virus that causes Covid-19, known as SARS-CoV-2. You can read more about how PCR tests work here. However, these tests take considerable time to perform. These work by adding a specific reagent to the sample, which identifies any genetic material of the virus that’s present, and replicates it to the point at which it can be detected in a lab. To date, tests to determine whether someone currently has the virus which causes Covid-19 have been PCR tests. We’ve been asked by readers about the accuracy of new Covid-19 “lateral-flow” tests being trialled in the UK.
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