Performance of lateral flow devices during the COVID-19 pandemic - ISS-G20 Laboratorium Repository

Testing has been a vital tool in controlling the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19) since the start of the pandemic.

Initially, reliance for testing was on the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test. This is excellent at providing an accurate measure of the presence of the virus. However, its use was limited by laboratory capacity, and it had other disadvantages, notably the time it took to get results and the cost.

Rapid antigen tests – better known as lateral flow tests – potentially offered some crucial advantages. They did not involve a lab, results were produced within minutes and tests were much cheaper, enabling people to test themselves much more frequently than was possible with PCR tests. However, we needed to be sure they were accurate before they were used and to continuously monitor their performance once they were in use.

Here we provide a summary of our findings and the context of the introduction of lateral flow devices (LFDs). A detailed scientific report on the performance of the different LFDs used in the UK testing programme can be found at Lateral flow device performance data.

Entire content available on: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/lateral-flow-device-performance-data/performance-of-lateral-flow-devices-during-the-covid-19-pandemic