Doctor claims mass testing pilot study 'missed 60% of people who had active Covid'

A doctor appearing on Good Morning Britain on Friday claimed that a recent mass testing pilot study 'missed 60 percent of people who had active Covid'.

Doctor David Strain appeared via video link from Exeter to speak to hosts Kate Garraway and Richard Madeley about daily testing.

Mass coronavirus testing instead of Covid isolation has been rolled out for food industry workers as the "pingdemic" continues to strip supermarket shelves.

It will mean all workers who have received NHS Covid 19 app alert to isolate or have been called by Test and Trace will be able to continue working if they test negative.

Dr David Strain claimed that a recent mass testing pilot study 'missed 60 percent of people who had active Covid' (ITV)

Around 170 supermarket depots will be part of the daily contact testing programme launched today - but workers in the supermarkets themselves will not be included for now.

Dr Strain said of the news: "The problem with the daily testing is the lateral flows were only ever designed as a screening programme.

"They were not designed to say, 'yes you are safe', the lateral flow test will miss anything between 15 percent of people who have got Covid."

Concert-goers showsa negative Covid-19 result on their phone as they arrive for the latest event in the government's Events Research programme (AFP via Getty Images)

He then claimed: "When we did the pilot study in Liverpool, it actually missed 60 percent of people who had active Covid."

Dr Strain added that "the app is a really good way of protecting the population" and the lateral flow tests are not reliable enough to widen the daily testing scheme any more.

"The problem comes when you’ve got a big supermarket full of people who might have then been out at a nightclub the night before or been to a bar the night before, where there’s a much higher risk of contracting Covid, would we be happy for those people to be serving us and potentially spreading the virus around?" he said.

Mass coronavirus testing instead of Covid isolation has been rolled out for food industry workers (AFP via Getty Images)

Richard was quick to interject and asked: "What if they’ve been double jabbed?"

"If you have been double jabbed, we are gathering more and more evidence that if you are double jabbed then your risk of transmission is lower," Dr Strain replied.

"That’s the evidence that’s currently being evaluated and we are hoping by the 16th of August, that we’ll have all of that evidence and at that point - providing that it’s demonstrated to be safe - it would be suitable if you’re double jabbed, you don’t need to isolate because your risk of spreading it to somebody else becomes much lower. That’s what this is all about."

Good Morning Britain airs weekdays at 6am on ITV.