Until an effective vaccine is widely available for the Covid-19 virus which can be easily transmitted by asymptomatic individuals, intelligent use of large scale virus testing (LSVT) to detect the hidden virus is the only tool known to halt the spread of the disease and thus save many lives. By this means, people who test positive are more likely to isolate, health officials have information to break transmission chains by tracking down positive individuals and their contacts, virus free subjects can be identified and the behaviour of the disease can studied, helping measure the actual no. of cases, identify hotspots, monitor the effect of any measures taken, etc. Thus, the rest of world (countries with the disease or with foresight & the WHO) are strongly advocating, and many are vigorously practicing LSVT. The view is shared by almost all scientists in the UK. S Korea’s successful use of LSVT is being followed by Germany and many smaller countries and it has been used to eradicate the disease in some towns in N Italy.
The UK is NOT conducting LSVT. Following criticism for actually reducing the test rate, the Gov promised 25 000 tests per day but have come nowhere near that number.
At under 1500 tests per million people (Wikipedia, 27 March), the UK is outside the top 50 countries or regions. Statements that the UK is well placed in virus testing are untrue.
Importantly, the millions of tests now promised by the PM are quite different and do not detect the virus but instead the antibodies to the virus which are believed to be detectable only about 2-3 days after symptoms emerge, i.e. as much as 2 weeks after the virus is present and would have been identified by the virus test. An antibody test would be a very useful complement to LSVT but is of no value in identifying those carrying and transmitting the virus without symptoms, or up to 2 weeks before they appear. The virus and antibody tests are not interchangeable. The proposed antibody test shows where the enemy may have been but not where it actually is.
We are now an extremely desperate situation with the exponential increase in seriously ill threatening to overwhelm the NHS. The lack of adequate LSVT risks leaving the country fighting a deadly infection blindfold. In simple terms, knowing what the enemy is up to is key to winning the war. If you want the UK gov to join other countries in undertaking large scale virus testing (LSVT) and fully explain their strategy to do this, please sign this petition.
