As few as two per cent of positive Covid lateral flow test results taken in low prevalence areas are accurate, an adviser to Matt Hancock has warned.
In emails, leaked to the Guardian, senior strategist Ben Dyson is said to have warned health department colleagues about the unreliability of lateral flow test results.
Mr Dyson, who is an executive director of strategy at the health department and one of health secretary Matt Hancock s advisers, reportedly raised feared that the reliability of positive results could be as low as two per cent in certain areas.
The email was reportedly sent on April 9, four days after Boris Johnson announced a multi-billion pound plan for a mass-testing drive in the UK - which would see Britons test themselves twice a week with lateral flow tests.
Number 10 has today hit back at claims controversial rapid lateral flow coronavirus tests are dangerously unreliable.
The Prime Minister s official spokesman said the kits, which give a result in under half an hour, have been tested rigorously and we are confident that they are accurate .
It came after an adviser to Matt Hancock admitted as few as two per cent of positive lateral flow test results taken in low prevalence areas are correct.
In emails leaked to the Guardian, senior strategist Ben Dyson is said to have warned Health Department colleagues about the unreliability of lateral flow test results.
The self-administered kits have been mired in controversy since they were put into mass use when schools in England reopened last month. They are now available for free to all adults with no Covid symptoms.
A hell of a lot of people who have voted National for a long time must have switched to Labour. We may eventually have sound evidence as to why this happened, but I d think that keeping the Greens out of government is a believable motivation for a lot of people. Along with many other reasons, but it would be the world s biggest coincidence if the lion s share of them wasn t Covid-related in one way or another, as Labour s meteoric rise concided exactly with the pandemic hysteria and there has been basically no other news this year.
Right wing pundits certainly have more than their fair share of idiots. It s a great pity that they are pretty much the only people left that are openly critical of the government any more. I personally would not be singing this government s praise on it s profound left-wing acheivements, most especially not it s authoritarian response to the pandemic, which was a victory for the complete absence of any sensible democratic debate. The ensuing unprecedente
By ANGUS McNEICE in London | China Daily Global | Updated: 2021-04-15 09:22 Share CLOSE Vials with a sticker reading, COVID-19 / Coronavirus vaccine / Injection only and a medical syringe are seen in front of a displayed Johnson & Johnson logo in this illustration taken Oct 31, 2020. [Photo/Agencies]
Unexpected pause in use could push back continent s vaccination timeline
The European Union appears set to shift its vaccine strategy in favor of shots that use messenger RNA technology, such as those from Pfizer and Moderna, and decrease its reliance on so-called viral vector vaccines, which include those from Johnson& Johnson and AstraZeneca.
Viral vector vaccine uses modified versions of a different virus to provoke an immune response.
UK-PHRST Research Fellow in Mental Health
The UK-Public Health Rapid Support Team (UK-PHRST) is co-led by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) and Public Health England (PHE), funded by UK government Overseas Development Aid with a triple remit of response, research and capacity development for outbreaks in low and middle income countries.
The main purpose of the post is to support the implementation and continued development of the UK-PHRST’s emerging mental health programme. To do this, the post holder will work with UK-PHRST colleagues, the Centre for Global Mental Health at LSHTM, and colleagues in Global Mental Health at Public Health England.