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Government Issue Warning About Unreliable And Illegal Coronavirus (Covid-19) Test Kits

Some manufacturers are selling products for the diagnosis of COVID-19 infection in community settings, such as pharmacies.

The current view by Public Health England is that use of these products is not advised:

• some of these products look for virus while others look for the body’s immune response to the virus. Such tests are very rapid and can work on a range of specimens including serum, plasma or finger-prick whole blood

• there is little information on the accuracy of the tests, or on how a patient’s antibody response develops or changes during COVID-19 infection. It is not known whether either a positive or negative result is reliable

• currently there is no published evidence about the suitability of these tests for diagnosing COVID-19 infection in a community setting

The Government website advises against the use of these kits:

Some manufacturers are selling products for the diagnosis of COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) infection in community settings, such as pharmacies.

They warn:

We can confirm that there are no CE marked tests for home use, and it is illegal to supply such products.

However, there is a moral question with regard to when officially supported reliable testing becomes available to the public and whether or not individuals will have to buy them!

Should the state provide the Coronavirus (Covid-19) tests free of charge to ALL? What if people decide not to buy the test and assume they are risk free? What if they have self isolated for 14 days and then decide to go out as normal and don't bother paying for a test?

All these questions and more are such that the Government needs to answer!

In the meantime, you can write to your MP and express your opinion on the Government charging for the testing or providing it free to all: Find your MP

Source: Gov.UK / Unionsafety

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