(Source: The Guardian)
Inadequate tests for Covid-19, based on poor or dodgy data, are proliferating in the UK because there are no clear rules on what companies have to prove before they can sell them, experts believe.
The Royal Statistical Society (RSS) has set up a working group to investigate and draw up guidelines for the companies making the tests and those who assess them and buy them. The organisation says there are “concerns about a lack of basic statistical evidence on clinical and analytical performance of a number of new diagnostic tests that are available”.
The group is led by the RSS president, Prof Deborah Ashby, together with Prof Jon Deeks, who has pointed out the failings of a number of tests. Deeks has cast doubt on the claim that an antibody test made by Abingdon Health and backed by the government is “99.4% accurate” and lambasted a test from iAbra – trialled at Heathrow airport – which claimed 99.8% accuracy on the basis of three samples.
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