Diane Schofield takes a lateral flow test when she arrives at the Aspen Hill Village Nursing Home in Hunslet, Leeds.
Danny Lawson – PA Images | PA Images | Getty Images
LONDON – A battle has broken out in the UK over the use of rapid coronavirus tests – formally known as ‘lateral flow tests’.
There is a heated debate about how accurate they are at detecting Covid-19 cases and whether it is a cheaper and faster way to perform mass tests.
The tests can be self-administered and detect the current Covid-19 infection, with results usually occurring within 30 minutes. It involves taking a swab from both nostrils, but not the throat, and can be processed without laboratory equipment.
The British government, which wants to roll out lateral flow tests to more institutions such as schools, says the tests are accurate and reliable and allow regular testing of people who have the virus but are asymptomatic.
But the tests divided the scientific community, with critics saying the tests were less accurate than PCR tests, which are still considered sensitive and accurate as the ‘gold standard’ (although the results last longer than 24 hours), and can lead to several false negative results.
The government is keen to expand test regimes (in a strategy called “Operation Moonshot”) as it could provide a quicker exit from a third national exclusion that could further damage the UK economy after a year of disruption.
Most contagious cases of Covid
A preview of a government-funded study by the University of Oxford was published on Thursday, which concluded that “devices for lateral flow detect most infectious Covid-19 cases and a safer relaxation of the current closure. enable. “
The study also confirmed that the more virus is detected in the nose and throat (known as the viral load), the more contagious the individual is: ‘This is the first time it has been confirmed in a large-scale study and explains a part of the reason why some people give Covid-19 through and others do not, “the study noted.
As such, people with a higher virus burden are likely to transmit the infection to others, making these infected individuals the most important to detect so that they can be isolated to reduce the transmission.
The greater use of lateral flow tests may help pick up more of these highly contagious individuals that transmit the virus more easily, the study said.
“Modeling indicates that lateral flow devices will identify individuals responsible for 84% of the transmissions using the least sensitive of four (lateral flow) kits tested, and 91% using the most sensitive,” the study said. said, although it acknowledges that such tests are less. accurate as PCR tests.
“Covid-19 tests, which are less sensitive than standard PCR but which can be made more easily available, such as lateral flow tests, can be a good solution to ensure that those who are highly contagious can know that they are faster and can easing the restrictions on closure. “
“They will also allow more people to be tested who produce immediate results, including those who do not have symptoms and people at increased risk of testing positive, for example because of their job or if they have had contact themselves. “
Tim Peto, a professor of medicine at the University of Oxford and senior author of the study, said that ‘we know that lateral flow tests are not perfect, but they prevent it from being a game changer to deal with large amounts of infectious cases quickly enough. to prevent further spread. “
The British government has planned to introduce lateral flow tests in schools to conduct daily coronavirus tests among pupils aged 11 to 18, in an effort to reduce the number of children and young adults who have to stay at home and isolate themselves if they would come, to reduce. in contact with a positive matter.
However, the plan was suspended because most schools took online lessons with a third exclusion implemented due to a rapid increase in infections.