Health chiefs defend fast lateral flow tests
MINISTERS have insisted rapid Covid tests are “highly accurate” – despite fears they could lead to thousands of false positives.
Everyone in England is being offered twice-weekly testing as part of the Government’s plans to reopen the country.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock said “reclaiming our lost freedoms” and getting back to normal “hinges on us all getting tested regularly”.
But experts warned the move could do “more harm than good” with claims the quick turnaround lateral flow tests are less reliable than laboratory versions.
Health minister Edward Argar defended the system, insisting recent analysis showed there was less than one false positive in 1,000 results.
He said the “more people who are taking these tests, the better”.
Mr Argar added the massive
expansion in testing will help get people back to work and reopen society.
He said: “These simple tests are a key part of doing that.
“In terms of the reliability of the tests, I think recent Test and Trace analysis suggests that out of 1,000 lateral flow tests, there was less than one false positive within those 1,000.
“So that is still a highly accurate test which can play a really important part in reopening our country and our businesses, because it is so simple to take. I suspect in the first instance, a lot of them will be used by people who are starting to go back into their workplace again.
“As the economy starts opening up again, as pubs start opening for outside drinks and shops start opening again and as people start going back to their offices and businesses.
“So I suspect that will be a very large proportion of people who use these tests.”
Nearly £30billion has been set aside for coronavirus testing within the two-year NHS Test and Trace budget.
From Friday, lateral flow kits will be available for free at testing sites and pharmacies or can be ordered online. It is hoped the changes will allow any local outbreaks to be brought under control.
But Allyson Pollock, professor of public health at Newcastle University, said mass testing “is going to do more harm than good”.
She added: “When the prevalence rate falls as low as it is at the moment then an increasing proportion of cases are likely to be false positives, meaning that cases and contacts will self-isolate unnecessarily.”