Man Shows Importance Of Taking A Lateral Flow Test Just Before Meeting Someone

An expert has revealed how fast your lateral flow tests can turn positive, in a bid to encourage people to do them just before going to meet people.

Billy Quilty, who works in infectious disease epidemiology and dynamics at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, turned to Twitter to show four LFTs side by side.

He explained how - from left to right - the tests were done in the morning, at lunch time, then he did one in the evening which seems to have a faint second line.

By the following morning he was testing positive for the coronavirus, which can be seen in the fourth test.

Billy went on to explain why he started testing so much, saying: "Had several exposures including two household ones so started testing daily, as is policy in the UK.

"Late Tuesday I felt a sore throat coming on so I increased frequency to capture the upswing through Wednesday. This is my research area so I thought it would be interesting."

He went on to add: "I don't recommend testing that frequently normally. Main point was meant to be that a test result from yesterday or early in the day may expire in a few hours, so make sure you do one as close as possible to when you're gonna see people."

Sharing their own results, one person also did four tests with the third beginning to show signs of a positive result. By the fourth test, the results showing were definitely positive.

They wrote: "You can see my 3rd one wasn't quite sure, then on the 4th day it was confirmed. You can imagine how many people may have ignored the bleeding of the pink then went off for days without doing another one and oh no."

When it comes to attending events and meeting up with people, someone else commented: "Strongly consider having all attendees complete their rapid test 1-2 hours before a gathering and have extras on hand for those who forgot BEFORE they come indoors (if possible).

"Just takes 15-20 minutes! Morning can have negative result but by evening, can be positive!"

Responding to another person who wished him well, Billy confirmed he has so far been showing 'very mild symptoms'.

Featured Image Credit: Alamy

Topics: Coronavirus, UK News, News

Rebecca Shepherd

I'm Becky - a journalist at LADbible. I graduated with a First Class BA in Journalism before going on to cover criminal court cases, medical tribunals and breaking news for the national media. Can often be found rocking a bag for life - which I made a thing long before Rihanna. You can contact me at [email protected]

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