People should take a lateral flow test to find out whether they have Covid before going to Christmas parties or meeting family, an expert has said.
Dr Susan Hopkins, chief medical adviser at the UK Health Security Agency, said people should take a lateral flow test before they socialise.
She told the Science and Technology Committee of MPs: “Lateral flow devices will detect in asymptomatic as well as symptomatic infection.
“They’ve been used very effectively now for almost one year in the UK population.
“What we know is that overall it will detect about 50% of cases compared to PCR, but it will detect about 80% or even more than that of people who have high amounts of virus and therefore are at the highest risk of transmitting to others.
“Our strong public health recommendation is if people are going out to venues to socialise, they should do lateral flow before they go to reduce the risk of going into that venue with asymptomatic infection and therefore transmitting to others.”
She added: “Again, the public health advice is to take a lateral flow before you go out to socialise at the moment, we would recommend that.
“The Government certification policy, which has been discussed for many months includes certification or a lateral flow test, but it does not preclude people doing a lateral flow test in addition to being vaccinated.”
