Strange One ( Positive lateral flows then negative on PCRs)

[The Lone Gunman]

I've heard of a few instances aswell. Its a bit odd. A PCR test is seen as the industry standard, but having false positives on a lateral flow seems unusual. I thought the inaccuracy of lateral flows was just about failing to pick up positive cases, not falsely reporting negatives.

Last year, a colleague of mine was being tested weekly as a part of the ONS surveys. At one stage he tested positive on a PCR test but showed no symptoms at all. The following week he tested negative, then positive again the next week, and then negative again. At no stage did he show any symptoms, but he definitely did catch Covid a couple of months later (two positive tests on a row) and did feel rough for a short while.