Dr Amir Khan demonstrates how to take a lateral flow test
Following the government's announcement to mass test secondary school and college students for Covid when schools reopen on March 8, Dr Amir Khan has demonstrated how to take a lateral flow test.
Students will be tested three times a week initially before being given two lateral flow tests a week to take and do at home.
Here is Dr Amir Khan's step by step guide as shown in the video above:
1. Ideally, the lateral flow test should be carried out ideally 30 mins before you eat and have washed your hands beforehand.
2. You need to take a swab of the back of your throat where your tonsils are and with the same swab, one of your nostrils as well.
3. Open your mouth wide. It shouldn’t touch your tongue or teeth. It should just touch where your tonsils are and rotate the swab about four times.
4. The same swab then goes inside one of the nostrils until you can feel resistance, usually about an inch for adults, slightly less for a child.
5. Rotate the swab 10 times.
6. Put the swab into the fluid in the test tube, give it a good squeeze at the bottom, then pinch the tube as you pull the swab out to get all the fluid off. Place the cap on the tube.
7. Take the lateral flow test and put two drops of the fluid where it says ’S’
8. Place the lateral flow test on a flat surface. The test result takes about 30 mins.
9. Two lines across the top will mean a positive result.