Simply explained DNA is a double helix 🧬 held together by complementary base pairs. The DNA is heated, it comes apart to form two single strands. Base pairs are added to each single strand and it builds two daughter helices🧬 🧬. This is called a cycle. The second cycle yields 4 helices. 20 cycles are run so each DNA strand is multiplied to give over a million copies.
With this technique scientists can not only detect if a sample has Covid 19 RNA but know the exact strain is present , or can they?
Last year there during the pandemic there became a urgent need for millions of PCR tests . In the NHS laboratories PCR are carried out in sterile labs with each stage requiring a different room, different PPE and stringent protocols. The qualified scientists would have to additionally pass a competency test for each procedure before they are allowed to perform it independently. A 10 week turnaround time is it not unusual for some PCR tests.
The aim of laboratory testing is to give the right results, on the right patient, at the right time. Giving a PCR Covid - 19 result weeks later in a pandemic would be a pointless exercis.
Lighthouse lab were constructed churning ever more results in days in order to meet the government minister’s promises. As long as the public got the results no one asked about the credentials of those running it or the accuracy of the results initially.
Social media platforms was the first voice of discord about the accuracy of the results. Many claiming to get positive results back when they did not even swab themselves. Personally I was affronted by this claim as I had seen first hand how rigid the conditions were carried out under in the NHS lab. Then
I saw the Panorama documentary.
I shuddered as I witnessed one sample drip into all the other 96 samples on the plate. Knowing that each drop would be amplified. If that sample was positive for Covid -19 every sample it dripped into would yield a positive resullt
So the results would be ’rubbish’. What is more worrying is that whoever was releasing these results would have known the results were contaminated and did not repeat the test because time and not accuracy was their only concern.
Moving forward the Lighthouse laboratories will need to radically upskill their practices if they ever hope to gain accreditation status and public trust.