You cough, have a fever, and suspect that you have been infected with corona – but what happens next? The Swedish Public Health Agency changed its strategies regarding the performance of the corona test and will now only test those who are in hospital and those who belong to a risk group. It is therefore no longer possible to be tested even if you have symptoms. Regardless of whether you are healthy, have become infected or belong to a risk group, it can be good to know how the procedure works. We have summarized this in the article below.
corona test: You will be swabbed with a top
Doing a coronal test is not much different from regular tests performed on the flu. Hospital staff will first take a sample to be checked for viruses. You will be swabbed in the throat, mouth, and far into the nose. It is not uncommon for healthcare providers to perform expectoration tests on patients who have a wet cough. In general, it is unusual to test other types of body fluids.
corona test: Your sample will be sent to a laboratory
All samples are stored in sterile tubes and sent in turn to a laboratory. In the case of special types of samples, they may be stored in colder rooms and sent as refrigerated transport to a qualified laboratory. Samples can be refrigerated for up to 72 hours. The virus can then be downgraded and show a negative result. Answers are usually given within 24 hours if the samples do not need to be sent to another region (which has occurred in Sweden)
The laboratory analyzes your sample
When the samples arrive at the laboratory, an analysis is started. Most often, laboratory technicians use a procedure called RT-PCR. Similar procedures are used to identify influenza. It allows laboratory technicians to see if a particular genetic sequence is found in a particular sample (for example, in a throat swab). During the analysis, special machines are used which in turn mark whether the result is positive or negative.
How long does the test take?
Generally, it does not take longer than 24 hours to get a test result, but the time may vary depending on the prevailing situation. It is not uncommon for smaller regions to send their samples to nearby neighboring regions for analysis.