Member Info for RegulatorUK

“ I thought I had seen Heathrow have gone with a company I am not too knowledgable about - maybe Geneme? The one with a £20k machine.....‘

Heathrow are pushing the i-Abra Virolens (that TTG has been subcontracted to manufacture).

Problem is, i-Abra are still only at prototype stage and have yet to provide detail of internal and external validation. They’ll also need full MHRA approval.

This is a bit like the Avacta antigen LFT...

There was an Apple update this morning to enable the tracing app to be opted into.

"The Government is telling people not to test until they have symptoms. Guess what, Autum/winter is approaching. Millions up and down the country, will be showing symptoms of cold, or is it covid."

It's not just flu that can be confusing... think of those of us with bad hayfever and allergies. When my hayfever is bad, I can end up with anosmia and ageusia - and I've had an irritating cough for most of spring and summer.

"Woke up this morning feeling rough, sweats, sore throat, loss of taste. Tried to book drive through, I have one within a mile of my house but told to drive 100mile round trip to North Devon, no home tests available, no walk in appointments. Oh dear."

Not good. The Test & Trace system at the moment is ludicrous.

I had similar earlier in the week. Luckily we are able to do our own testing. Drove to the hospital, got swabbed at 8.30 am and got the result (negative) later in the afternoon.

Can't wait for weekend FOMO to kick in a 3.00 pm.

"...Anyway no need to be rude, you seem to another intolerant woke anti-tory who thinks he would do a better job if in power."

Proud to be woke! (definition of woke: 'alert to injustice in society').

I never understand why right whingers think work is an insult. What sort of person, other than a sociopath, wouldn't want to be alert to injustice?

"Which is inert in a few hours even without being diluted by a reagent. and placed in a secure bag."

Err... no. If that were the case, then there'd be no need for the protection and clinical waste disposal systems deployed in labs across the country in labs involved in Covid testing.

Your're just beginning to make yourself look daft now.

"Sanitary towels, used nappies etc all go in the bin and not in properly supplied sealed bags,"

They're not potentially infected with a very dangerous virus.

"Another point to consider is the biological waste expect of millions of Odx tests being used on a weekly basis and then disposed of how? Throw in the general waste? How will the average bin man feel having to potentially be exposed to hundreds of blood infected samples on their daily rounds."

This is one of the holes in the Moonshot plan that healthcare professionals have flagged. These sorts of plans really shouldn't be pulled together by management consultants...

"Royal Mail would do, goes to every household every day and out test needs no special care when shipped"

Yebbut... Royal Mail won't give a bung to ministers and their mates.

"https://www.thestatesman.com/world/uks-secret-human-trials-of-new-antibody-test-results-98-6-per-cent-accurate-report-1502909917.html"

That article is almost two months old and is a bit of nonsense anyway. There were no 'secret trials'. The trials were widely known about.

"The point is that a negative antibody test is also a negative covid test at that time and that’s what many are missing."

No - it's not. You can be infected with Covid and not have detectable antibodies in the early stages (even if you were using the Mologic tripe antibody test, IgM antibodies may not be measurable for the first couple of days.

A negative antibody test is just a negative antibody test - and that's it.

"The inverse of this is anybody who tests negative for antigen, then also negative for antibodies is almost certainly virus free and can be given a digital health certificate and allowed to return to work until their next tests."

Not really. The testing can only indicate that the subject is virus free at the point the test is performed. To suggest that this virus-free status endures "until their next tests" is a stretch too far. To be clear, it is possible that someone who tests negative might be infected by the next person they meet.

In practice this just means that more (endless...) tests will be required."

Correct.

"Boris mention many time tests like pregnancy so they have obviously been put on his radar"

The Bloviating Idiot in No. 10 is very familiar with pregnancy tests...

It's there to distract from failings around testing and the huge increases in case numbers. It was drafted by management consultants and it's being torn to shreds by healthcare professionals and healthcare experts. As someone whose job it is to manage complex healthcare services, I can tell you it's one of the biggest piles of poo I've ever seen. If that was presented to me as part of a procurement they'd have been laughed out of the room.

Once the press realises Moonshot isn't feasible, attention will turn back to what is available, practical and practicable. And that's ODX and the UK-RTC.

“ Looks like Suresign (Ciga) are already starting commercial distribution of the tests...

https://www.suresignprofessional.com/covid19-register‘

Commercial distribution has not started yet. All the various web-sites are up in anticipation of it starting.

Look at the correction:

“This product news item was published in error.

Introdent would like to make it clear that no distribution agreement has been signed with the UK Rapid Test Consortium (UK-RTC) and apologise for any inconvenience caused.”

...when FOMO will kick in for real. I think I might switch off until then and get on with the day job.

I'm getting a sell quote...

..not that I'm going to sell a single share.

"Studies conducted by the University of Bristol found that the test had 99.8 per cent sensitivity, identifying all real cases and avoiding false negatives."

I would caution against quoting unsourced claims around the accuracy of this test - there is no published data available. The FT also seems to conflate sensitivity and specificity.