(TJV NEWS) Four German holidaymakers who were illegally quarantined in Portugal after one was judged to be positive for Covid-19 have won their case, in a verdict that condemns the widely-used PCR test as being up to 97-percent unreliable, RT reported.
A 34-page ruling on an appeal against a writ of habeas corpus filed by four German tourists ‘illegally confined’ to a hotel in the Azores over the summer leaves no doubt that a positive RT-PCR test cannot be taken on face value, Portugal resident reported.
The panel looked into the reliability of RT-PCR tests due the enforced confinement of the holidaymakers in question because one had tested positive.
The ruling cited a study conducted by “some of the leading European and world specialists in this material” published by the Oxford Academic at the end of September(LINK)
“At a cycle threshold (ct) of 25, about 70% of samples remain positive in cell culture (i.e. were infected): in a ct of 30, 20% of samples remained positive; in a ct of 35, 3% of samples remained positive and in a ct above 35, no sample remained positive (infectious) in the culture”.
“This means that if a person has a positive PCR test at a threshold of cycles of 35 or higher (as happens in most laboratories in the USA and Europe), the chances of a person being infected is less than 3%. The probability of a person receiving a false positive is 97% or higher”.
The judges also cited a study published in The Lancet(LINK) by Elena Surkova, Vladyslav Nikolayevskyy and Francis Drobniewski, which stated: “Any diagnostic test result should be interpreted in the context of the pretest probability of disease. For COVID 19, the pretest probability assessment includes symptoms, previous medical history of COVID-19 or presence of antibodies, any potential exposure to COVID-19, and likelihood of an alternative diagnosis. When low pretest probability exists, positive results should be interpreted with caution and a second specimen tested for confirmation.
The paper continues: “Prolonged viral RNA shedding, which is known to last for weeks after recovery, can be a potential reason for positive swab tests in those previously exposed to SARS-CoV-2. However, importantly, no data suggest that detection of low levels of viral RNA by RT-PCR equates with infectivity unless infectious virus particles have been confirmed with laboratory culture-based methods.
“To summarise, false-positive COVID-19 swab test results might be increasingly likely in the current epidemiological climate in the UK, with substantial consequences at the personal, health system, and societal levels (panel).”
The judges concluded by stating that: “The problem is that this reliability is shown, in terms of scientific evidence (and in this field, the judge will have to rely on the knowledge of experts in the field), as being more than debatable.
This number in most American and European labs is 35–40 cycles, but experts have claimed that even 35 cycles is far too many and that a more reasonable protocol would call for 25–30 cycles, RT reported.
NY Times also reported the same information in late August:
Most tests set the limit at 40, a few at 37. This means that you are positive for the coronavirus if the test process required up to 40 cycles, or 37, to detect the virus.
Tests with thresholds so high may detect not just live virus but also genetic fragments, leftovers from an infection that pose no particular risk — akin to finding a hair in a room long after a person has left, Dr. Mina said.
