Experts hail accuracy of rapid virus tests being sent out to Yorkshire health chiefs
RAPID coronavirus tests are accurate and sensitive enough to play a “major role” in the battle against coronavirus, scientists have concluded following an evaluation process.
The lateral flow tests, which can produce results in under half- an- hour without the need for laboratory equipment, have been shown to have over 99.6 per cent specificity, the Department of Health and Social Care said.
An evaluation process concluded they are suitable to be used in the community, including for testing asymptomatic people who are not showing signs of coronavirus infection.
The assessment of the tests was carried out by Public Health England’s ( PHE) Porton Down lab and Oxford University.
Sir John Bell, regius professor of medicine at Oxford, said: “The data in this validation report demonstrates that these inexpensive, easy to use tests can play a major role in our fight against Covid- 19.
“They identify those who are likely to spread the disease and when used systematically in mass testing could reduce transmissions by 90 per cent. They will be detecting disease in large numbers of people who have never previously even received a test.”
The ultimate ambition is for people to use the tests at home but officials are not yet sufficiently confident that they are straightforward enough for this.
However, they are confident that the tests will one day be rolled out to the general population after being first used by trained NHS professionals.
The tests are already being trialled in England, including a mass testing pilot in Liverpool.
Forty different lateral flow devices were put forward, of which nine met the criteria to continue to full evaluation.
Six made it to the third phase, and the Innova test, the one being used in the citywide Liverpool pilot, is nearing completion of the four- stage process.
PHE Porton Down’s labs have shown four lateral flow tests to have a sensitivity of more than 70 per cent of cases confirmed by a lab- based PCR test, but importantly catch all those with high viral loads, meaning they are effective in identifying the cases who are infectious and are most likely to transmit the disease.
The fast turnaround also allows positive people to isolate quickly, reducing spread.
It was announced this week that more than half a million lateral flow tests would be sent out by NHS Test and Trace to local health leaders this week.
Calderdale, Doncaster, Bradford, East Yorkshire, Hull and Wakefield are among the latest cohort of more than 60 locations to benefit.