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Experts have called for an end to the use of rapid coronavirus tests in universities and residences, after government figures from the mass testing program in Liverpool revealed that testing missed 30% of people with high viral loads. .
The figures showed that rapid tests identified only five out of 10 positive cases that had been detected by standard coronavirus tests, and seven out of 10 of those with high amounts of the virus.
Rapid tests, also known as lateral flow tests, provide much faster results than standard tests. This speed has led to its use in nursing homes to allow relatives to visit and in universities to allow students to return home for Christmas.
Allyson Pollock, a professor of public health at Newcastle University, called for an end to the use of rapid tests in universities and residences, saying they provide “false assurances.”
“Mass testing should be stopped and students should be given sensible advice about symptoms and contact tracing,” he said. “Lateral flow tests are not designed for use in healthy, symptom-free people in the community, it says this on the manufacturers’ information sheets.”
Pollock also criticized the government for “burying” the statistics in a larger document on community testing. Statistics are listed in a single sentence in an 8,000-word government document on community testing.
“What is really concerning is that the government has yet to release the assessment of the massive tests in Liverpool containing some of the key findings around the high proportion of false negatives, so they have kept this extraordinary statement in the appendix. “, said. .
Professor Jon Deeks of the University of Birmingham said the massive use of rapid tests was “putting people at risk.”
“It is not the case that if you have a negative test result, you do not have Covid,” he said. “Everything says you have to confirm them with PCR tests.” The polymerase chain reaction swab test that is widely used in the UK is considered the gold standard for detecting the virus, but results take longer.
Dr Sian Taylor-Phillips, a professor of population health at the University of Warwick, said she was more concerned that nursing homes “may be letting infectious people in.”
“My concern in all settings is if we are honest with people who could still be infectious and that we are not fair without knowing that they are putting their family members at risk,” he said.
“There is an urgent need for a proper report on Liverpool’s results,” he added.
Professor Martin McKee of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, who is a fellow of the Independent Sage, said he would be “very cautious about its use in residences”, insisting that “no one should trust a single test.”
However, he said rapid tests could be effective in certain circumstances.
“With PCR testing, it can take several days from when you decide to do a test to get the results, and if people don’t isolate themselves in between, it’s better to have a less sensitive test that’s much faster. But the ideal is to have faster PCR tests, ”he said. “Rapid tests have a role, but it has to be the right role.”
A spokesman for the Department of Health and Welfare said: “The country’s leading scientists have rigorously evaluated and confirmed the accuracy of tests for asymptomatic tests.
“With up to a third of people with Covid-19 showing no symptoms, expanding testing to identify people who show no symptoms and who may unknowingly infect people will mean finding positive cases more quickly and breaking the chains of transmission. “.
A Liverpool city council spokesman said those who had been rapid tested had also been offered a confirmatory PCR test, and that other safeguards had been put in place in the city’s nursing home test pilot, including the wearing PPE and the prohibition of touching others. .
“This has always been a pilot, not only to identify where the virus is in the city, but also to learn about different testing technologies and different testing strategies,” the spokesperson said. “The University of Liverpool and national public health agencies are working with us to assess how best to use the tests, and we are taking a careful approach with additional safety measures.”
