Positive rapid Covid tests now need lab test as confirmation
Positive results from a rapid Covid test taken in schools will now need a PCR test to confirm the result, the Department for Education has said in updated guidance.
Previously, pupils were expected to self isolated from a positive lateral flow test without taking a lab test. Even if they did take the more accurate lab test, the original LFD results could not be overridden. This however meant pupils were self-isolating unnecessarily.
Updated DfE guidance now states: “All positive results from rapid tests, whether conducted at home or at a school or college need to be confirmed with a PCR test within two days of the positive lateral flow test.”
If the PCR test is negative, provided it was taken within two days of the positive LFT, it overrides the lateral flow test and pupils, students and staff can return to school or college, and close contacts and other household members can stop self-isolating, the guidance states.
It remains however that anyone who gets a positive result from an LFD result self-isolates immediately, as must other members of their household, while they get a confirmatory PCR test.
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