BRITON teenagers are reportedly turning to TikTok to learn how to hack lateral flow coronavirus tests to give them what look like false positive results—which can then potentially force their entire school bubble to isolate at home.
Clips of young people applying various liquids like soft drinks, vinegar and sanitiser to lateral flow tests have racked up millions of views on the popular video app, with many users offering suggestions to hack the test.
Appearing under #fakecovidtest, the videos have been viewed more than 6.5 million times, with the dedicated account @.fakecovidtests gaining more than 20,000 followers. One of such videos has been viewed more than 2.5m times since it was uploaded on April 1, while others have received more than 289,000 and 71,000 views respectively.
One TikTok account that seemingly belongs to a British teenager features multiple videos of him testing combinations including Calpol cough medicine, lemon juice, orange juice, Lynx deodorant and Dior aftershave on rapid antigen tests.
Apple sauce, Coca Cola, vinegar, hand sanitiser and kiwi fruit are among the suggestions given by TikTok users who are reportedly encouraging others to apply to the tests in the hope of testing positive for Covid-19 and being made to stay away from school.
However, many users have pointed out that PCR tests are required after pupils test positive on a lateral flow test.
General secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, Geoff Barton, told i: “We are sure this involves a very small minority of pupils, and that for the most part the tests are used correctly.”
“However, we would urge parents to ensure that tests are not being misused, and we would suggest to pupils who are interested in chemical reactions that the best place to learn about them is in chemistry lessons in school.”
It has emerged earlier that fizzy drinks and acidic fruits can appear to break the test into displaying, what looks like a positive result, though rapid tests very rarely give false positive results, when used as intended.
Currently 279,000 children are self-isolating at home because they have had close contact with an infected person in school, as per the latest figures. While the government said the policy is helping to curb the spread of the virus, scientists have claimed that it was impossible to tell without the data.
It was reported earlier that the self-isolation of the entire bubble system may soon be replaced by rapid testing of close contacts. Pilot run was done in some schools and the new system may be announced just in time for the start of the new school year in the autumn.
