The two tests that will help to predict spread of Covid-19

One detects past infection, the other finds current viral load – but there’s a shortage of staff trained to carry them out

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Only by implementing carefully controlled programmes that use two very different Covid-19 test kits will it be possible to predict how the disease will affect the country, researchers have revealed.

Scientists emphasised the need to understand, as quickly as possible, where and when new cases of infection were appearing. At the same time, it was vital to pinpoint individuals who had already been infected, possibly without realising it, so that scientists could understand the disease’s behaviour over the coming months. Two different tests would be able to achieve these separate goals.

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