Students testing positive for Covid at school will require a follow-up PCR test to confirm the result, following another U-turn from the government.
The prime minister’s official spokesman previously said that only students who got positive rapid test results at home would receive a subsequent PCR test. If this latter test came back negative, they would be allowed to return to school.
But a follow-up would not be required for positive tests taken at school, the spokesman said.
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He explained that PCR tests were not needed after school tests because they were done “under supervision in a controlled environment”.
However, this led to fears that entire bubbles of students would be sent home due to false positives.
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The government has now reversed its position, saying that anyone who receives a positive result using a rapid test at school will automatically be asked to take a confirmatory PCR test.
This will apply to tests taken from tomorrow, Wednesday 31 March.
In a statement, the Department of Health and Social Care said: ”Recent analysis by NHS Test and Trace shows lateral flow tests (LFD) have a specificity of at least 99.9 per cent. This means that for every 1,000 lateral flow tests carried out, there is fewer than one false positive result.
“Despite this, at times of low prevalence, the probability of a false positive from an LFD is higher, so we are mitigating this by asking people to confirm a positive LFD result with a PCR test.”
Headteachers criticised the government’s “muddled messaging” over the rapid tests as schools reopened more widely earlier this month.
Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the NAHT school leaders’ union, said that the government’s approach to Covid testing had been “frustrating” for schools.
