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 Covid-19 tests used in an Operation Moonshot trial in Liverpool missed 60 per cent of positive cases, new research has revealed.
An evaluation of November s pilot found lateral flow tests - which are being used to test lorry drivers trapped at Dover - failed to pick up the majority of positive cases.
Earlier this month it was revealed the tests, which can return results within the hour, were missing cases where people were carrying low levels of the virus.
The British Army was sent out to Liverpool to run the testing pilot between November 6 and December 9, with hopes similar schemes could be run across the country as part of Operation Moonshot.
Credit: PA
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.
More than a third used the LFTs or PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction
) tests over the same period and 2,902 come back positive via the PCR tests.
The researchers at the University of Liverpool 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.
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.”