FAQs

Students should take two lateral flow tests 3 days apart before going home:

• A positive result will require individuals to stay on campus/housing until their 10 day self-isolation period finishes;
• Two negative test results mean the individual can return home immediately (within 24 hours of the test);
• Anyone who is a close contact of a positive, but does not show any symptoms and has two negative test results, can go home safely and continue their self-isolation at home (14 days in total).

Students should takes two lateral flow tests 3 days apartand as close as possible to the date of departure from University. The tests don’t guarantee that the individual would not catch the infection, but they do provide information to the individual’s infectivity status at the time of the test.

If you test positive, you should be asked to take a confirmatory PCR. You should self-isolate for 10 days from your first positive test or until you return a negative PCR test. If there is subsequent onset of symptoms, you should self-isolate 10 days from the onset of symptoms. Seek medical care as required.

Lateral Flow test.

No, not if they are negative on the first test.

Research suggest that the current LFD test has been found to have high specificity but with slightly lower sensitivity i.e. potential to miss some Covid-19 positive cases. Therefore thetwo tests conducted close to each other are a measure to pick up any case that was missed in the first round or newly developed cases.

Most universities will offer two tests, but if your universityis unable to offer two tests, you should still book one test andfollow the guidance after taking the test before returning home.

The Government’s top priorities for testing, as they have been throughout the pandemic, are to allocate testing where it is needed most to save lives. Lateral flow antigen tests are a new kind of technology we have been piloting in a range of environments including universities to assess if it can be used to test higher proportions of asymptomatic people. We aim to use LFT to test university students to quickly identify those that need to isolate and break the chain of transmission. A number of universities will be using LFD as part of a programme to enable students to return home for Christmas.