EXCLUSIVE: Innova coronavirus test put into NHS packaging for flexible use
Manufacturer instructions say it is for professional use on people with symptoms
But Department of Health is giving it to people without symptoms to self-test
Experts said rebrand was unusual and wouldn t be needed for a quality product
Scientists warn the self-test kit isn t fit for purpose and its use should be stopped
Professor Jon Deeks, a biostatistician from the University of Birmingham, accused the Government of making lateral flow tests seem better than they are
Boris Johnson s extortionate Operation Moonshot mass-swabbing scheme could accelerate Covid s spread because the tests are so inaccurate, a top expert has warned.
Professor Jon Deeks, a testing expert at the University of Birmingham, accused the Government of making lateral flow tests seem better than they are in a bid to justify the £100billion scheme.
Professor Deeks and other scientists are concerned that the tests are significantly less accurate when people do them themselves, as is the plan for Opertaion Mooonshot.
The Prime Minister has said the Government wants secondary school pupils to return to lessons in a staggered way in the new year if they “possibly can”.
He said the “commonsensical thing to do” was to follow the path of the epidemic.
Labour’s letter to the Education Secretary calls on the Government to publish scientific evidence on the spread of the virus in schools and colleges – and the risk this poses to students, staff and the community.
It demands that the Government puts in place plans to safeguard vulnerable children in the event that schools and colleges close.
Last week, the Government announced that most secondary school and college pupils’ return to class in England would be staggered in the first week of January to help roll out the mass testing of students.
Professor Jon Deeks, a biostatistician from the University of Birmingham, said rapid coronavirus tests will cause outbreaks in schools if the Government presses on with plans to roll them out nationally because they are so inaccurate
Rapid coronavirus tests will cause outbreaks in schools if the Government presses on with plans to roll them out nationally because they are so inaccurate, a top scientist has warned.
Biostatistician Professor Jon Deeks said he was surprised at how bad the Innova Tried & Tested lateral flow kits performed in his trial of more than 7,000 students at the University of Birmingham.
The 15-minute tests – which the UK has spent more than £600million on – picked up just three per cent of asymptomatic students infected with the virus.