COVID-19: Heathrow airport begins to roll out rapid tests; result within an hour

London's Heathrow airport is now offering pre-departure COVID-19 tests at the terminal itself to passengers who are travelling to Hong Kong and Italy. The rapid COVID-19 test will cost £80 to the passengers and the results will be available within an hour. According to The Guardian, COVID-19 tests at the Heathrow airport are currently available for passengers travelling to destinations that require pre-departure tests, including Italy and Hong Kong. 

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Lamp testing

According to the report, British Airways, Virgin Atlantic and Cathay Pacific are currently offering the tests at the airport because these are the only carriers at the moment operating flights from the United Kingdom to the above-mentioned destinations. They are using the loop-mediated isothermal amplification (Lamp) test for the rapid testing at the airport, which is different from the RT-PCR test used by the National Health Service (NHS). Lamp testing, which is less sensitive, can produce the results quickly as opposed to the PCR test because the throat and nose swabs are not required a laboratory evaluation. 

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According to the report, Collinson, a medical and security assistance firm, will assist the airlines in conducting these tests at the airport. Collinson nurses will take the swab samples from the passengers, which will be then tested by its biotech partner Prenetics at the airport itself. The results will be given within an hour or so, depending on the inflow of passengers at the airport. These tests will be offered only at the terminal 2 and 5 of the Heathrow airport. Collinson has reportedly built a test on-arrival facility at Heathrow airport and is now waiting for the government approval to use it. 

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(Image Credit: AP)