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A Melbourne doctor has opened up about why some people have been getting false negatives from their rapid antigen tests and shared the best way to boost your chances of getting an accurate result.
Dr Michael Mrozinski, 35, is a Melbourne GP who has dedicated his platform on TikTok to 'calling out medical misinformation'.
In his latest video he explained why people doing at-home Covid tests should also swab their throats as well as their noses, as this can help ensure you don't get a false negative.
A Melbourne doctor has opened up about why some people have been getting false negatives from their rapid antigen tests and shared the best was to boost your chances of getting an accurate result
He recommended people doing at-home Covid tests also swab their throats as well as their noses to help ensure you don't get a false negative
He said the reason for this is that Omicron, unlike Delta, can be detected earlier in the back of the throat than the nose.
'Everybody always remembers to do the nostrils but don't forget to do the back of the throat,' he said.
'Or else you might get a false negative.'
Research has found that RATs are more effective at detecting the virus in symptomatic people due to higher viral loads.
Viral loads refer to the amount of the virus present in your body.
To combat this issue the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) has released three categories of 'sensitivity' different RATs fall into.
The sensitivity refers to how likely the test is to detect small amounts of covid virus.
However, there is also concern over the RATs providing false positives.
The government has asked that anybody that receives a positive result from a RAT test undergo a PCR test to confirm the result.
The PCR is considered more reliable than a second RAT when
