An increasing number of providers are selling private COVID-19 tests to the public, including high street pharmacy chains Boots, Superdrug and Lloyd’s pharmacy.
But these tests, which can cost anything from £40 to several hundred pounds, all offer slightly different things – and there are important caveats about what they can tell you, and who should use them.
We explain what you need to know if you want to get tested, including the difference between the types of coronavirus test, what’s available and what’s legitimate, as well as the limitations of current tests.
Boots, Superdrug and Lloyds Pharmacy launch private COVID-19 test services
Anyone in the UK who has symptoms can apply online via the government website for a free coronavirus PCR swab test, which tells you whether you currently have COVID-19.
However, the past couple of months have seen availability issues and backlogs affecting processing times for tests.
An increasing number of private clinics – and now high street pharmacies – are marketing coronavirus swab testing services, either via a home test kit, clinician home visit, or clinic appointment (though some won’t see you if you have symptoms).
These tests are expensive: they are about £110-160 for a home or in-store test kit and up to £350 for a home visit. Estimates for results turnaround are between 24-72 hours.
What do the big chains offer?
To check if you currently have COVID-19:
- Boots – PCR swab test, £120 (in-store, currently available, similar to NHS one, processed in a lab, musn’t have symptoms, can be used as proof for travel if required), rapid antigen test (processed in-store, results in 12 minutes, musn’t have symptoms, launch TBC – see below)
- Lloyds – PCR swab test, £119 (delivered to you / posted, currently available, similar to NHS one, processed in a lab, can be used as proof for travel if required)
To check if you previously had COVID-19:
- Superdrug – Antibody fingerprick test, £69 (delivered to you / posted, processed in a lab)
However, we don’t think anybody should have to pay for a pricey private test, and there are limitations around what the Boots and Superdrug offerings, in particular, can tell you.
Boots tests aimed at offering ‘peace of mind’ for those with no symptoms
The Boots PCR coronavirus swab test is done in-store and returns results within 48 hours. Swabs are processed in a lab, similar to the NHS version. It costs £120.
It’s ostensibly for those who need pre-flight certification, or want reassurance before ‘social events’, and isn’t for those showing symptoms, who are instead directed to the free NHS testing service.
But this test can’t tell you any more than that you don’t have the disease at that specific point in time.
The same applies to the new 12-minute rapid results coronavirus test Boots plans to launch next month. This involves taking a nasal swab which is then analysed on the spot.
However, the rapid test manufacturer (LumiraDx) says on its website that the intended use for the test is ‘individuals suspected of COVID-19 by their healthcare provider within the first twelve days
of symptom onset.’
While a swab test can indicate whether you were infected at the time of the test, it is still possible you could develop COVID-19 soon after. It isn’t clear, either, what the false negative rate is for these tests.
See our full story on rapid COVID-19 testing.
Superdrug antibody tests re-instated
Antibody tests, which identify if you’ve previously been infected with COVID-19, are available to buy from a range of private providers – most commonly they require a blood sample which is taken by a healthcare professional.
Antibody tests where you take your own blood sample with a home finger-prick test and send it to a lab for analysis were banned for a period of time, while the sampling process was being investigated by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) to see if it’s viable.
Superdrug has now re-launched its home fingerprick antibody test, which it says it compliant with the evolving MHRA guidance. The test is available through Superdrug’s online doctor service and costs £69.
Again, the proposed aim here is ‘reassurance’ – plenty of people may be curious to know if they’ve already had the virus. However, we don’t think private antibody tests are currently worth the money. There are still questions over their accuracy, and too many unknowns about how much immunity previous infection bestows. See our antibody test section for more on this.
Coronavirus testing explained
Get the lowdown on the different types of tests, how the testing process works and understanding your results:
- Getting tested for coronavirus
- How does testing and tracking work?
- Understanding your COVID-19 PCR test results
- What’s happening with antibody testing?
- Do antibodies mean you’re immune?
- Can you buy an antibody test?
If you think you have COVID-19
Diagnostic swab test
The PCR swab test, taken from inside the nose and / or mouth, is the main one used by the NHS testing service and indicates whether a person is currently infected with the virus.
- This type of test takes longer to process as the samples need to be analysed in a lab.
- Currently, anyone with symptoms can get a coronavirus test as part of the UK testing and tracking programs.
- You can request the swab test online, and it can be done at a drive-through testing centre, at a mobile testing unit, or via a home-test kit.
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The government website urges people to request a test as soon as they develop symptoms, and says testing must be done within the first five days of having symptoms.
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If your test needs to be posted, you also need to allow time for it to arrive within that time.
The test involves swabbing the inside of your nose and the back of your throat, using a long cotton bud. You have to do it yourself and it can be unpleasant as the swab needs to go quite deep.
41% of Which? members who had taken this test said they found it difficult to do and patients have told us it can be easy to get wrong, especially when you’re feeling unwell.
Testing in hospital is available for patients and some NHS workers, and a new rapid results antigen test has been introduced in these settings.
How does testing and tracking work?
The testing and tracking systems operate under slightly different guises across the UK. These are:
- England – NHS Test and Trace
- Scotland – Test and Protect
- Northern Ireland and Wales – Test, Trace, Protect
The basic steps for the testing and tracking systems operating across the UK are:
- Isolate – as soon as you have symptoms and for at least 10 days, while anyone you live with must isolate for 14 days from the onset of your symptoms
- Test – request a test as soon as possible
- Result – a positive result means you continue to isolate for the time set out above, if it’s negative you and anyone you live with can stop isolating
Share contacts – if you get a positive result, you will be contacted with instructions of how to share details of people with whom you have had close, recent contact and places you have visited.
How to tell if an NHS Test and Trace message is a scam – be alert for scammers taking advantage of the crisis
An NHS contact tracing smartphone app was supposed to form part of this system, but problems with the way it worked meant plans were scrapped in favour of a different version which is being developed with Apple and Google.
A new NHS COVID-19 app for England and Wales, using QR codes, launched on 24 September.
In Northern Ireland, people can download the StopCOVID NI app.
In Scotland, NHS Test and Protect has a Protect Scotland app.
Understanding your COVID-19 swab test results
Negative result
NHS advice says you do not need to isolate if you receive a negative result, as long as everyone in you household or support bubble with symptoms also tests negative, and if you haven’t been told to isolate by NHS test and Trace.
Some doctors have raised concerns about the false negative rate for coronavirus testing, where your test is negative but you do actually have the virus, leading to possible false reassurance.
It is not known what the rate of false negatives is (a report in the British Medical Journal estimated it is between 2% and 29%), but a negative result from a swab test is conveyed to patients in very definitive terms – ‘you did not have the virus when the test was done’ – without any information about what might affect the result or its accuracy.
Government advice does tell people to continue isolating if you’re feeling unwell, even with a negative test result, so if you’re unsure, it’s best to stay at home.
Unclear result
There are also worries about the lack of information about an inconclusive test result, with patients simply being told their test is unclear and to apply for another one, but no information as to why this might be or how to avoid invalidating the test on another try.
If you receive an unclear result and you have symptoms, you must self-isolate for 10 days from the onset of symptoms, but if you don’t, you don’t have to self-isolate.
Positive result
If you test positive, you must self-isolate for 10 days from when your symptoms started, or 10 days from getting your result if you are asymptomatic.
Anyone in your household or support bubble must also self-isolate for 14 days. In England and Wales, you should be contacted by NHS Test and Trace after testing positive. In Northern Ireland, you will be contacted by the PHA Contact Tracing service, and in Scotland, you’ll be contacted by the National Contract Tracing Service.
What about antibody tests?
Antibody tests are meant to show whether a person has already been infected with coronavirus. They work by detecting the presence of the antibodies our bodies produce to kill the virus.
Expanding accurate antibody testing would help experts understand how far the virus has spread, and how many people might have had it asymptomatically, or with mild symptoms.
They are currently being rolled out to health and social care staff, patients and care home residents on a trial basis.
How accurate are antibody tests?
Antibody tests are measured on specificity – which measures the proportion of ‘true’ negatives – and sensitivity, which measures the proportion of ‘true’ positives,
Jon Deeks, Professor of biostatistics at the University of Birmingham, says that while a positive result is fairly definitive, a negative result is less certain.
Professor Deeks explains that antibodies might not present as strongly in people with mild or no symptoms and studies so far have mostly been done on patients with severe cases – so this could skew the data for how accurate the tests are.
Still plenty of unknowns around COVID-19 immunity
It is hoped that once someone has had COVID-19, they are immune to the disease, but crucially, this is still uncertain.
The presence of antibodies in your blood can tell you you’ve been exposed to the virus, and therefore can also offer some information about how you reacted to it, but at the moment that’s about it.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) says: ‘We expect that most people who are infected with COVID-19 will develop an antibody response that will provide some level of protection. What we don’t know yet is the level of protection or how long it will last.’
It warned against making assumptions about a person’s immunity to coronavirus based on antibody testing. A positive result can’t yet be interpreted as a stamp of immunity, and there have been some suspected incidences of reinfection.
Any level of immunity can only be assumed in the short term because we just don’t have long-term data yet on how this virus behaves.
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has banned some advertising from private clinics including the London Vaccination Clinic, Solihull Health Check Clinic and the Corona Test Centre London for claiming that a positive antibody test would show that people were immune to the disease.
Antibodies or T-cells?
Antibodies are also not the only way to gauge immunity from a disease. T-cells (a type of white blood cell) also play a role in the body’s immune response by mobilising the body’s defense mechanisms and destroying infected cells.
Researchers have discovered a T-cell response to coronavirus in people who didn’t have antibodies, but more research needs to be done in this area.
Can you get an antibody test?
Back in May, the MHRA ordered a pause on sales of antibody tests where users had to collect their own blood sample at home, via a fingerprick, and send the sample to a lab for analysis.
The ban has now been lifted, as Superdrug – one of the providers of this type of test – has relaunched its product in line with new guidance.
The MHRA warns that ‘anyone using a sample collection kit to test for COVID-19 must read the instruction leaflet carefully. It is very important that you have a clear understanding of the process because if the sample is not collected properly, the result may not be accurate.’
Other private health companies such as Qured, Medichecks, DocTap and Forth are offering to send a healthcare worker to your house to administer the test, or selling antibody tests along with an in-person doctor’s appointment. This generally costs about £85-£130 per test.
We don’t think it’s worth spending money on an at-home coronavirus antibody test currently, as there’s a risk that they could give a false sense of security, and they can’t tell you much right now on an individual level.
Self-test coronavirus kits – where you take the test and read the results yourself at home – are not approved for sale in the UK and any company selling these is doing so illegally.
It’s important to note that you should continue to follow government advice around social distancing regardless of an antibody test result.
Story last updated: 5 November 2020 This story was originally published in March 2020 but has been regularly updated to reflect new information and rules around testing.
source https://www.which.co.uk/news/2020/11/coronavirus-can-you-get-a-home-test-kit/