WHO Calls Into Question Ability of the RT-PCR Test To Detect Covid-19 (False Positives)
What Happened: On December 14th the World Health Organization (WHO) released a notice on their website titled “WHO Information Notice for IVD Users” regarding “nucleic acid testing (NAT) technologies that use real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) for detection of SARS-CoV-2.”
In it they state that people who test positive for COVID-19 may not actually have COVID-19, known as false positives. They state the following,
WHO has received user feedback on an elevated risk for false SARS-CoV-2 results when testing specimens using RT-PCR reagents on open systems.As with any diagnostic procedure, the positive and negative predictive values for the product in a given testing population are important to note. As the positivity rate for SARS-CoV-2 decreases, the positive predictive value also decreases. This means that the probability that a person who has a positive result (SARS-CoV-2 detected) is truly infected with SARS-CoV-2 decreases as positivity rate decreases, irrespective of the assay specificity. Therefore, healthcare providers are encouraged to take into consideration testing results along with clinical signs and symptoms, confirmed status of any contacts, etc.
The idea that some people who test positive for COVID-19 may not actually have COVID-19 has been a common theme during this pandemic as many scientists and doctors have called into question the efficacy of the test for declaring a pandemic. For example, 22 researchers have put out a paper explaining why, according to them, it’s quite clear that the PCR test is not effective in for identifying COVID-19 cases. As a result we may be seeing a significant amount of false positives. False negatives are also a possibility. They claim that the test is completely useless for detecting COVID-19.
You can read the entire paper and the evidence behind their reasoning here. The site where the paper is found was put up by Prof. Dr. Ulrike Kämmerer, specialist in Virology / Immunology / Human Biology / Cell Biology, University Hospital Würzburg, Germany, Dr. Pieter Borger (MSc, PhD), Molecular Genetics, W W Research Associate, Lörrach, Germany and Rajesh Kumar Malhotra (Artist Alias: Bobby Rajesh Malhotra), Former 3D Artist / Scientific Visualizations at CeMM – Center for Molecular Medicine of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (2019-2020), University for Applied Arts – Department for Digital Arts Vienna, Austria.
It was a response to a recent publication titled “Detection of 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) by real-time RT-PCR” arguing that the tests are indeed accurate.
As a result of these concerns and inaccuracies with testing many doctors, scientists and journalists are urging government health authorities to listen to them when it comes to their recommendations for mass testing. For example, an article recently published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) titled “Covid-19: Mass testing is inaccurate and gives false sense of security, minister admits” explains how the testing being deployed in parts of the UK is simply not at all accurate for asymptomatic people and argues that it cannot accurately determine if one is positive or negative. The article expresses the opinion that asymptomatic people should simply not be tested because of the inaccuracies of the tests being used, and there is also much controversy as to whether or not asymptomatic people can even spread the virus and infect others.
Another article published in the BMJ titled “Screening the health population for covid-19 is of unknown value, but is being introduced nationwide” shares the same type of sentiments.
More Statements Regarding False Positives
As far as false positives go, the Deputy Medical Officer of Ontario, Canada, Dr. Barbara Yaffe recently stated that COVID-19 testing may yield at least 50 percent false positives. This means that people who test positive for COVID may not actually have it.
In July, professor Carl Heneghan, director for the centre of evidence-based medicine at Oxford University and outspoken critic of the current UK response to the pandemic, wrote a piece titled “How many Covid diagnoses are false positives?” He has argued that the proportion of positive tests that are false in the UK could also be as high as 50%.
As far back as 2007, Gina Kolata published an article in the New York times about how declaring virus pandemics based on PCR tests can end in a disaster. The article was titled Faith in Quick Test Leads to Epidemic That Wasn’t.
Former scientific advisor at Pfizer, Dr. Mike Yeadon, also one of the authors of the paper discussed at the beginning of this article, argued that the proportion of positive tests that are false may actually be as high as 90%.
The Bulgarian Pathology Association claims that PCR tests are “scientific meaningless” to detect COVID-19. They cite an article published in “Off Guardian” that goes into more detail and explanation as to why.
The idea that many COVID-19 cases around the world could be false positives is quite a common theme. British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab stated that,
The false positive rate is very high, so only seven percent of tests will be successful in identifying those that actually have the virus.
Is Raab implying
Article from LewRockwell
