How are People Tested for Covid 19?
As the coronavirus is spreading in the community increasingly, people might wonder if they and their families should get tested. The urge of getting tested increases especially if someone in the family is sick or was close to the person who is infected with the virus. If you are planning to get tested, plan it with your doctor to figure out how and when the test can be performed and whether a test can be helpful or not.
How many types of Covid-19 testing are there?
In the UK Covid testing is performed in various government and private health departments. For working people, it is necessary to get tested when they re-join after a lockdown. ABEL Occupational Health Resolution team consists of highly skilled specialists and health physicians who are offering infection testing and antibody testing to their employees. They are providing a rapid antigen swab test which provides the result within 15 minutes. However, there are two types of tests for Covid-19 that can inform you about the current infection or past infection.
Tests performed to know about current infection
This test is a diagnostic test that can tell you if you are having an infection currently or not. This test will be recommended by your doctor after examining the symptoms and other factors. However, to examine the presence of infection in the body of the patient, the health care provider looks for the virus in a sample of saliva or mucus. This test can tell the patient about the infection on the day of testing.
How this test is performed?
In some labs and health centers, the health care provider will take a sample from inside the nose, the throat, or tongue using a swab. While the other method is the sputum test. During this test, you are required to cough in the cup used for collecting the sample. Other types of covid-19 testing are Nasal aspirate and tracheal aspirate in which sample is collected from nose and mouth.
Test to know about the past infection.
To check if the person had coronavirus in the past, the health care provider looks for the antibodies in the blood of the person. The antibodies start to form about two to three weeks after the infection. This test is not used to diagnose Covid-19 and is used for the checking of antibodies in the blood. Performing this test helps the doctors gather data about the immune system of the infected person. However, this is not confirmed that a person with a positive antibody test is protected from the virus. A blood sample from a vein or fingertip is used for this test and the results can take up to a week or less.
A positive viral diagnostic test means that you are infected with coronavirus while a negative test means that you are not infected. In some cases, the results tend to be inaccurate and the person with the virus can get a negative result. In this case, some people get a second test. Before the test, make sure to understand all the instructions provided by your health care provider. The better the sample, the more precise and accurate the results will be.
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William L. Padilla is a creative writer and content strategist from creativecommons. I am a graduate of the University of London. Currently, I write for various websites and working in Bestway Software House. I am interested in topics about self-education, Social writing, motivation and Technology. As a trained writer, I love discovering new ways to use my writing as a tool to further the education of others.