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6 Jan
The Department of Health has announced that people in Northern Ireland who get a positive lateral flow test will no longer need a PCR test to confirm that result.
If your lateral flow is positive, you should assume you have Covid-19 and that you are infectious.
You should therefore self-isolate immediately for the required period.
It is also strongly recommended that everyone over 11 years of age takes regular rapid lateral flow tests, particularly if you’re planning to mix with other people or you can’t get the vaccine due to your age or a health condition.
It is extremely important that you report your positive lateral flow test as this will trigger contact tracing processes to alert people you have been in close contact with and to provide them with advice regarding their potential to become infected and spread the virus.
How to report a rapid test result
It’s important to report every result, positive, negative or void. You need to report your result within 24 hours of getting it.
If you have been given a unique organisation number (UON) when accessing rapid tests, you should enter it when reporting your result. Using the UON helps to identify the number of cases related to a workplace or event.
To report your lateral flow result, you must go to the Gov.uk website.
Once on the results portal, you will need to:
Sign in or create an account
State whether you are reporting for yourself or someone else
Click what country you live in
Say whether or not the test if for your job
State why you took the test
Click on when the test was taken
Scan or enter the test strip ID found on the test
Enter your name and date of birth and sex
State your ethnic group and nationality
Enter your home address
What your results mean
If your rapid test result is positive you need to follow the guidance on self-isolation.
You no longer need to book a PCR test unless you are clinically extremely vulnerable.
If it’s negative, it is likely you were not infectious at the time the test was taken. A negative test result, however, is not a guarantee that you do not have COVID-19. You should continue to follow the latest regulations and guidance.
If the test result is void, this means that the test has not run correctly. You need to take another rapid test. Do not reuse anything from the first test.
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