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30-minute rapid coronavirus tests could miss up to 30% of infections, based on a clinical assessment.
Lateral flow tests generate a swab result without the need for laboratory equipment and are currently being tested in Liverpool.
They are lining up as a way to significantly expand testing of people without symptoms, potentially even to thousands of University students before going home for Christmas.
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An independent government review found them “highly reliable, sensitive and accurate,” according to the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC).
He said the four best performing lateral flow tests detected coronavirus in “more than 70%” of the cases, being the one used in Liverpool, the Innova test, in 76.8%.
That means that up to 30% of infected people could go unnoticed.
However, the DHSC emphasized that the tests “detect all those with high viral loads,” meaning they find those who are most likely to spread the disease.
The Innova test was found to detect 95% of people with a high viral load, with a “minimal difference” in their ability to contract the virus in people with and without symptoms.
Their false positive rate was 0.32%.
Nine lateral tests were fully evaluated by Public Health England’s renowned Porton Down Laboratory and the University of Oxford.
The DHSC said the results showed the tests should be used on a broader scale to evaluate people without symptoms, adding capacity to the more accurate PCR tests already offered to people with symptoms.
The particular lateral flow test used in Liverpool detected 76.8% of cases
Lateral flow tests offer quick results, but must still be performed by trained personnel at special test sites. However, experts are studying how they could be self-administered.
The Chief Medical Advisor for NHS Test and Trace said she was confident that lateral flow tests “will make a real difference.”
“These tests are proving to be accurate and reliable,” said Susan Hopkins.
“And more importantly, they are able to detect COVID-19 in people without symptoms who could unknowingly be transmitting the virus to other people …
“We are confident that these new tests, which have been rigorously evaluated, will make a real difference in how we protect people from this disease and help break the chains of transmission.”
