Experts are calling for people to do a throat swab even when doing a “nose only” lateral flow test.
The home tests are in high demand at the moment with people travelling all over the UK to visit friends and family for the festive season.
However, some experts have concern over how we are currently managing risk around the virus.
Professor Jennifer Rhon, a cell biologist at University College London, took to Twitter to post the outcome of her lateral flow test.
After a string of negative results, her result come up positive when she swabbed her throat as well as her nose, Wales Online reports.
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She said: "Well, there it is. Today, with the “wrong” (i.e. cold) symptoms and after a string of negative LFTs, I finally took Twitter advice and swabbed my throat as well as my nose (no mean feat with that diddly stick). If you think you might have Covid, consider adding the throat sample."
The important reason for a throat swab was explained by Dr Michael Mina, an assistant professor of epidemiology at Harvard.
He said: "Symptoms are starting very early with omicron. This means that there is a chance the virus isn't yet growing in the nose when you first test [as the] virus may start further down. Throat swab + nasal may improve chances a swab picks up virus."
Speaking previously on Radio 4, Professor Tim Spector, who helped found the Covid Zoe app, said the “majority of symptoms” of the Omicron variant are like a common cold, including headaches, sore throat, runny nose, fatigue and sneezing.
