The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned experts not to rely solely on the results of a PCR test to detect the CCP virus.
In an updated guide published on January 20, the WHO said laboratory experts and health professionals should also consider patient history and epidemiological risk factors alongside the PCR test in the diagnosis of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus.
The new orientation could result in a significant number of daily cases.
“Most PCR assays are indicated as an aid to diagnosis, therefore healthcare providers should consider any outcome in combination with the time of sampling, the type of sampling, the details of the assay. , clinical observations, patient history, confirmed status of any contact and epidemiological information, ”says the guide.
It is unclear why the health agency waited more than a year to publish the new directive. The WHO did not respond to a query from The Epoch Times.
Scientists and doctors have for many months expressed concerns about overconfidence and misuse of the PCR test as a diagnostic tool, as it cannot differentiate between a living infectious virus from an inactivated virus fragment that is not infectious.
In addition, high-cycle threshold values in most PCR tests (at 40 cycles or more) increase the risk of false positives. A higher threshold value indicates a lower viral load and the person is less likely to be infectious, while a person with a lower cycle threshold value has a higher viral load or is more infectious.
The WHO did not specify what the cut-off limit should be for a positive diagnosis, but said it would only “determine whether [a] the manufacturer recommends manual adjustment of the PCR positivity threshold. “
However, he clarified that when the prevalence of CCP virus is low, it “increases the risk of false positives,” which means that the likelihood that a person with a positive outcome (detected SARS-CoV-2) is actually infected with SARS- CoV-2 decreases as prevalence decreases, regardless of claimed specificity [of the PCR test]”.
SARS-CoV-2 is the scientific name for the CCP virus that causes COVID-19 disease.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) states that their PCR tests have a cycle limit of 40 cycles. On November 12, 2020, the federal agency finally included information on the value of the cycle threshold in frequently asked questions about COVID-19 for laboratories.
But many medical experts believe the 40-cycle threshold value limit only returns false positives, as samples that go through many amplification cycles will pick up insignificant RNA sequences, regardless of whether the virus is inactivated or the viral load is excessively low to pose some problem.
Prior to the CCP virus pandemic, people who are considered a case should test positive and show clinical signs and symptoms. But to count as a case of PCC virus, only a positive PCR test is needed. And no matter how many times an individual is tested, each positive test is counted as a separate case.
The WHO now advises that a positive PCR test that “does not correspond to the clinical presentation” should be verified by taking “a new specimen” and re-testing it.
This advice can also help reduce PCC virus cases in hospitals, as it more clearly defines who is considered a hospitalized case.
The Director of International Relations of the UK National Health Service (NHS), Dr Layla McCay, confirmed this. talkRADIO that a percentage of hospitalized patients officially counted as positive cases were actually treated for different non-COVID-19-related diseases. They had only tested positive for the disease in the hospital without showing any symptoms.
Dr. Layla McCay, director of the NHS Confederation, confirms to Julia that the hospital’s figures for “patients with Covid” include patients who are not being treated by Covid, but who have simply tested positive while it was being treated. ‘something else.@ JuliaHB1 | @LaylaMcCay pic.twitter.com/xSud6LW13M
– talkRADIO (@talkRADIO) January 5, 2021
“It’s true that in the hospital, the people who tested positive for COVID will be the full range of symptoms,” McCay said. “Some will have it apart from some other problem they are in the hospital for.”
The day after the WHO released its new guide, President Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser, Dr. Anthony Fauci, said the United States would be part of the organization again.
“As such, I am honored to announce that the United States will continue to be a member of the World Health Organization,” Fauci said. “Yesterday, President Biden signed letters retracting the previous administration’s announcement to withdraw from the organization, and these letters have been forwarded to the UN Secretary-General and to your Dr. Tedros, the my dear friend “.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is the Director-General of WHO.
“The United States also intends to meet its financial obligations to organizations,” Fauci added.
In July last year, the Trump administration withdrew from the WHO for its alleged role in helping the Chinese communist regime cover up the severity of the CCP virus.
There have been mixed responses from Congress about Biden’s decision to rejoin the WHO.
Representative Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) Introduced a bill (pdf) on Jan. 21 to “ban the availability of U.S. contributions to the World Health Organization until Congress receives a full report on China and the COVID-19 pandemic, and for other purposes “.
She said in a statement: “The WHO is focused on China and is heading to Beijing at every turn. There is no reason why US taxpayers should contribute more than $ 400 million. to an organization that covered China and did not contain the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. “
Before former President Donald Trump withdrew from the WHO, the United States contributed the most money to the health agency, according to State Department statistics.