A small study funded by the US National Institutes of Health (NIS) has found that Covid-19 lateral flow tests (LFTs) can be as effective in detecting SARS-CoV-2 infection as polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests when used for serial screening conducted every three days.
The PCR test is considered to be the gold standard for diagnosing Covid-19 infection, but their broad use as a screening tool has been limited by the fact that they need to be processed in a lab and it can take days for results to reach patients.
