You must have heard multiple times about False Positive and False Negative when it comes to Covid-19 Tests. False positives, add unnecessary testing and further stress to patients who do not have any symptoms. Whereas, false negative gives a false sense of security to those patients who might be having underlying symptoms of Covid-19.

RT.com published news on 5-9-2020 where it reported that

“Covid-19 tests might be detecting Dead Virus Cells and thereby exaggerating Pandemic”  Read Complete Story on RT.com

BBC.com also published news  as given below on how Coronavirus Tests are picking up dead virus. Read complete story on BBC.com

False Positive and False Negative in Covid-19 Tests

What does False Positive & Negative Actually Means in Covid-19 Tests?

False Positive – A positive result means that you have antibodies to COVID-19 in your blood, which indicates that you were infected with the virus in the past. It is possible to test positive even if you have never had COVID-19 symptoms. There may be a false positive result. Perhaps the test detected antibodies to a coronavirus closely related to the COVID-19 virus or the quality of the test may have been flawed.

False Negative – A negative result means that you do not have antibodies to COVID-19, so you probably have not been infected with the COVID-19 virus in the past. Since it takes time to develop the antibodies, the false negative test result can occur if the blood sample is taken too soon after the start of the infection. In some cases, the test may be flawed.

Watch Video: Man received false positive from Rite Aid COVID-19 test

Read Related News on False Positives and False Negative of Covid-19 Tests

• Dead fragments of novel coronavirus led to false positives in recovered patients (TheHindu.com)
• Positive-negative-positive: How reliable are COVID-19 tests? (NationalHerald.com)
• ‘False positive’ results keep patients in hospital longer, add to bed crisis in Kolkata (TimesofIndia.com)