When is the best time to get tested after Covid exposure?

Sign up for our free Health Check email to receive exclusive analysis on the week in health Get our free Health Check email Get our free Health Check email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Since the emergence of the new Omicron variant, government guidance has ramped up testing capacity offering home lateral flow test kits and making more PCR test sites available. Contact us by clicking here Edinburgh University public health professor Linda Bauld, told The Independent that with the ready availability of home lateral flow tests, people should seek to get tested as soon as they find out they have been exposed to Covid-19. “If people have access to testing, as in they have it in their home already and they’re informed that they have come into contact with a positive case, it certainly is reasonable that within the first 24 hours to use one of those tests and to continue to do so for several days.” Professor Bauld added, however, that in a circumstance where lateral flow tests were not readily available and they need to be rationed to the most vulnerable people and frontline staff, it may be best to wait at least two days before testing due to the decreased sensitivity of the home test kits. “The antigen tests which find a protein in the virus rather than the genetic material from the virus are less sensitive than the PCR test which means you may need a bit more virus built up in your body before a test has a positive result - you may have more of the virus replicating in your system if you give it a couple of days.” Imperial University Public health expert, Professor Azeem Majeed agreed with government advice that people should begin testing immediately from when they are exposed and continue testing for 10 days after.