Demand for workspace rapid Covid tests jumps as offices prepare to reopen
Diagnostics company Excalibur Healthcare, which provide fast-acting lateral flow tests, said demand had increased for its test and it had seen a surge in calls from companies wanting to implement workplace testing regimes.
Excalibur sold hundreds of thousands of lateral flow tests in the seven days after Boris Johnson announced his roadmap out of lockdown.
Excalibur’s chief executive and founder Sir Chris Evans said: “We have new firms contacting us and are adding new customers every single week or day. Everybody now realises they will need to test. They are desperate and as soon as they can open up, they will.”
Lateral flows tests have come a long way since they were first introduced, the company said.
Excalibur’s test was found to be 96 per cent accurate, according to a study at the Catholic University of Korea Incheon St Mary’s Hospital.
Innova also released a lateral flow test that 76 per cent accurate, according to a pilot study conducted in Liverpool.
Crucially, both tests are better at detecting the virus when there is a high viral load, meaning the more infectious you are the more likely you are to receive an accurate test.