A mass community testing pilot in Liverpool using rapid-result tests failed to detect 60% of known positive coronavirus cases, an evaluation shows.
A quarter of Liverpool’s 498,000 residents were tested using lateral flow device tests (LFTs) between November 6 and December 9, with 897 positive results.
And a third used the LFTs or PCR tests, with 2,902 positive results, according to the evaluation, led by the University of Liverpool.
People queue at a Coronavirus testing centre at the Liverpool Tennis Centre (Peter Byrne/PA)
Scientists have defended the rapid tests as a “useful public health tool”.
Professor Louise Kenny, of the University of Liverpool, said there was no perfect test, adding: “Do not let perfection be the enemy of good.”
A mass community testing pilot in Liverpool using rapid-result tests failed to detect 60% of known positive coronavirus cases, an evaluation shows.
A quarter of Liverpool’s 498,000 residents were tested using lateral flow device tests (LFTs) between November 6 and December 9, with 897 positive results.
And a third used the LFTs or PCR tests, with 2,902 positive results, according to the evaluation, led by the University of Liverpool.
People queue at a Coronavirus testing centre at the Liverpool Tennis Centre (Peter Byrne/PA)
Scientists have defended the rapid tests as a “useful public health tool”.
Professor Louise Kenny, of the University of Liverpool, said there was no perfect test, adding: “Do not let perfection be the enemy of good.”
Rapid-Result UK Tests In Liverpool Missed 60% Of Known Virus Cases
Wed, 23rd Dec 2020 20:30
(Alliance News) - A mass community testing pilot in the UK city of Liverpool using rapid-result tests failed to detect 60% of known positive coronavirus cases, an evaluation shows.
A quarter of Liverpool s 498,000 residents were tested using lateral flow device tests between November 6 and December 9, with 897 positive results.
And a third used the LFTs or PCR tests, with 2,902 positive results, according to the evaluation, led by the University of Liverpool.
The researchers found that the Innova LFT device identified two fifths of the PCR positive cases when analysing a sample of 6,000 users who self-swabbed under supervision.
Liverpool mass testing missed a third of infectious cases, data shows
The MHRA has now approved rapid coronavirus tests for self-testing
23 December 2020 • 8:00pm
Visitors queue to enter a Covid-19 Army run testing centre at Liverpool Tennis Centre on November 6 as part of the mass testing
Credit: Anthony Devlin/Bloomberg
Mass coronavirus testing in Liverpool missed up to a third of people who were likely to be infectious, the latest data has revealed.
The pilot, known as ‘Operation Moonshot’, used lateral flow tests (LFTs) which give results in just 30 minutes, versus laboratory run polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests which can take days to be returned.
A mass community testing pilot in Liverpool using rapid-result tests failed to detect 60% of known positive coronavirus cases, an evaluation shows.
A quarter of Liverpool’s 498,000 residents were tested using lateral flow device tests (LFTs) between November 6 and December 9, with 897 positive results.
And a third used the LFTs or PCR tests, with 2,902 positive results, according to the evaluation, led by the University of Liverpool.
People queue at a Coronavirus testing centre at the Liverpool Tennis Centre (Peter Byrne/PA)
Scientists have defended the rapid tests as a “useful public health tool”.
Professor Louise Kenny, of the University of Liverpool, said there was no perfect test, adding: “Do not let perfection be the enemy of good.”