Home / Health / Contact tracing won't curb Covid-19 spread if testing is too slow: Lancet

Contact tracing won't curb Covid-19 spread if testing is too slow: Lancet

To be successful, contact tracing measures must keep the rate of transmission of the virus, known as the Reproduction or R number, below one

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A health worker collects swab sample for Covid-19 rapid antigen testing, at Community Centre, Bhim Nagar, in Gurugram.

IANS London

3 min read Last Updated : Jul 18 2020 | 4:23 PM IST

The speed of contact tracing strategies is essential to slow coronavirus transmission, but the delays in Covid-19 testing will significantly hamper this process, warn researchers.

If Covid-19 testing is delayed by three days or more after a person develops symptoms, even the most efficient contact tracing strategy cannot reduce onward transmission of the virus, the study, published in The Lancet Public Health journal, reported.

According to the researchers, improving access to Covid-19 testing, combined with digital that minimises tracing delays, will be key to the success of a contact tracing approach to reduce the spread of the virus.

"This study reinforces findings from

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