(ANSA) - LONDON, OCTOBER 14 - The so-called lateral flow tests (Lft), the do-it-yourself antigen tests widely used in the United Kingdom as in other countries to help the health service track the spread of Covid infections, are proving to be much more reliable than expected on the very useful results in monitoring the pandemic.
This is certified by the results of an updated study carried out by a team of researchers from the prestigious University College London (Ucl).
Based on a new calculation formula, the British studies found a level of accuracy of the results of over 80% in any case of Covid infection and over 90% in cases of contagion with relevant infectious symptoms. These are data that must push the general population to trust and take seriously the indications of these tests, "isolating themselves where the outcome is positive", underlined to the BBC Professor Irene Petersen, of Ucl, coordinator of this research, even if the government protocols of the Kingdom, however, require the subsequent counter-proof of a PCR test (ie of a molecular buffer). Petersen also noted that the study confirms that about one third of the infections surveyed refer to asymptomatic people: who, even without having any disturbance,they can still infect others for several days. (HANDLE).