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Liverpool Echo
Liverpool Echo
World
Ryan Paton

What does a faint line on a covid test mean and when you will recover

Coronavirus rates are currently surging across the UK.

The latest data from Public Health England showed the rate of positive tests had risen by almost two thirds in the Liverpool City Region. Figures showed there were 1,737 cases in the week ending June 13, which is 677 more than the previous week.

The increase is in line with surging rates across the country as figures estimate around 1.13m people in the UK have coronavirus. Good Morning Britain's Dr Hilary Jones confirmed the current dominant strain is the BA.4 and BA.5 variants of the milder Omicron variant.

READ MORE: ITV Good Morning Britain's Dr Hilary Jones shares 'worrying' concern amid covid surge

He said: "Unfortunately, it is showing an uptake again. One in 50 people as opposed to one in 70 just two weeks ago have covid now." Many people are using lateral flow tests to determine whether they have coronavirus.

The tests require either a throat and nose swab or swab only to give a result. The lateral flow test features two letters on the device where the swab is inputted into.

"C" stands for control and a red line next to this letter means the test has worked and the result is being process. "T" stands for test and a red line next to this indicates you are positive for coronavirus.

Some people have reported this line can appear very faintly, but the official advice says people should still treat this as a positive results. It said: "Result lines may appear smudged or faint, but they are still valid results."

If you test positive for coronavirus, the NHS still advise people to try to stay at home and avoid contact with others People who have tested positive can pass the virus on for up to 10 days from when your infections starts, but many will no longer be infectious after five days.

The NHS urge people to "try to stay at home and avoid contact with other people for five days" and avoid "meeting people at higher risk from Covid-19 for 10 days, especially if their immune system means they’re at higher risk of serious illness from Covid-19, even if they’ve had a Covid-19 vaccine".

If a child or young person aged under 18 tests positive for coronavirus then they should avoid contact with people for three days from the day after they did their test. The NHS added: "Children and young people tend to be infectious to others for less time than adults. If they’re well and do not have a temperature after three days, there’s a much lower risk that they’ll pass on Covid-19 to others."

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