THOUSANDS of coronavirus tests have come back to laboratory\u2019s with unclear results.<\/p>\n
Public health experts are warning that a slow turnaround in diagnosing COVID-19 patients could undermine contact-tracing efforts.
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Sky News has learned that four percent of swab tests conducted in Milton Keynes Lighthouse Laboratory have been declared \u201cunclear.\u201d<\/p>\n
This is because of limitations in the chemical testing process.<\/p>\n
Tests can also fail to produce a clear result if they are not administered correctly, if there is a delay transporting them to the laboratory, or if there are problems with labelling, barcoding or packaging.<\/p>\n
It comes as Prime Minister Boris Johnson has promised to increase testing capacity to 200,000 a day by the end of May.<\/p>\n
If Milton Keynes inconsistencies are representative of the rest of the UKs testing network, this could mean that at least 8,000 tests a day unclear.<\/p>\n
This would be equal to 56,000 \u201cunclear\u201d tests a week.<\/p>\n
When a test does not produce a clear result, people are asked to repeat their test, and they are sent a text message which says: \u201cYour COVID-19 test has come back UNCLEAR.<\/p>\n
\u201cPlease seek a repeat test via the route you used previously.\u201d<\/p>\n
Public health experts warned that any delays in diagnosis could undermine the government\u2019s contact-tracing system, which is key to easing restrictions on movement.<\/p>\n
David Bonsall, a researcher at Oxford\u2019s Big Data Institute, which is advising the government on its contact-tracing app, said to Sky News: \u201cFor contact tracing to work, it has to be quick.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no point in contact tracing if you\u2019re tracing people and finding individuals after they have infected others, you have to catch up with the virus.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the virus that determines how quick testing needs to be, and it does need to be very fast indeed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Matt Waller, who works in North Cumbria University Hospitals NHS Trust, received an unclear test result 11 days after his test, which he took because his partner had COVID symptoms.<\/p>\n
Waller said: \u201cIt made me a little anxious because at that point I\u2019d worked a handful of shifts at two A&E departments in my trust seeing patients and working alongside staff who would be considered at risk.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was still asymptomatic but decided to contact my occupational health department.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey agreed to swab me on the basis of the inconclusive test.<\/p>\n
\u201cI got swabbed this Monday and that came back negative on the 19th.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s all felt very inconsistent.\u201d<\/p>\n
A spokesperson for the Department for Health and Social Care told Sky News:<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have full confidence in the reliability of our tests and our highly-skilled scientists do everything possible to make sure inconclusive results are extremely rare. Inconclusive test results occur with tests for any virus.<\/p>\n
\u201cMore than 1.8 million people have now been tested and the vast majority have had no issues with their test results.\u201d<\/p>\n
The UK is the worst hit country in Europe for COVID-19 deaths, with 36,042 deaths, and 250,908 cases.
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