FAQ

I Am Symptomatic with Positive PCR + Negative Antigen Results

This could be because:

• There aren't enough intact viral particles present in your sample. The antigen test can’t detect the presence of the virus without enough intact particles present, which can produce a negative result.
• There is a low viral load in your body, which the PCR will detect and return as a positive result, but the antigen test will not.
• There was an error in the sampling for the PCR. This is rare, but can happen when there is a related coronavirus present in your sample, which the PCR test recognises as positive.

 

I Am Asymptomatic with Positive PCR + Negative Antigen Results

This could be because:

• There are not enough intact viral particles present in your sample. The antigen test can’t detect the presence of the virus without enough particles present, which can produce a negative result.
• There is a low viral load in your body, which the PCR will detect and return as a positive result, but the antigen test will not.
• There was an error in the sampling for the PCR. This is rare, but can happen when there is a related coronavirus present in your sample, which the PCR test recognises as positive.
• Typically if you are asymptomatic, you have a lower viral load, which means fewer intact viral particles will be present in your sample.

 

I Am Symptomatic with Negative PCR + Positive Antigen Results

This could be because:

• There was a time lag between when you took the PCR test and the antigen test. If you took the antigen test first, and took the PCR test a day or two after, your immune system may have cleared the virus by the time you took the PCR.
• There was a possible contamination from taking something that affected the accuracy of the antigen test, which led to a false positive (e.g. food, drink, toothpaste consumed within 30 mins before taking the test).
• The antigen test was taken either too early or too late in the infectious phase, producing a false positive.

 

I Am Asymptomatic with Negative PCR + Positive Antigen Results

This could be because:

• There was a time lag between when you took the PCR test and the antigen test. If you took the antigen test first, and took the PCR test a day or two after, your immune system may have cleared the virus by the time you took the PCR.

• There was a possible contamination from taking something that affected the accuracy of the antigen test, which led to a false positive (e.g. food, drink, toothpaste consumed within 30 mins before taking the test).
• The antigen test was taken either too early or too late in the infectious phase, producing a false positive.