Seven in 10 positive Covid cases in school children likely to be wrong
Thousands of pupils and their families are having to isolate needlessly, and missing more days after months away from classrooms
Seven in 10 positive coronavirus tests in school children are likely to be wrong, experts have warned, as they called on the Government to bring back confirmatory PCR testing.
Biostaticians are concerned that infections in the community are now so low, that false positives and negatives are vastly outnumbering true cases, leading to real cases being missed and families needlessly being asked to isolate.
Pupils are currently being tested twice a week for coronavirus using lateral flow devices, but real-world data has shown they miss positive cases around 50 per cent of the time.