NHS intervenes after TikTok user wastes coronavirus test in hand sanitiser stunt

The NHS has intervened after a TikTok user decided to use a coronavirus test for an unusual purpose.

England’s health service felt compelled to comment after a video of a user putting hand sanitiser on a lateral flow test racked up 7.3 million views.

The video shows the user swiping gel on the test, for whatever reason, and promising to reveal the results of the test in another video. But they received a swift telling off from the NHS.

They said: “Er, don’t do this.”

TikTok/ @katiiee34

Other users were also baffled by the video. One commented: “If the NHS is commenting I would stop wasting tests.”

Another said: “What a waste, what y’all think is gonna happen?”

In the much awaited results video, the user revealed the hand sanitiser had tested negative for the virus, in news that will no doubt relieve the nation.

And viewers of the sequel were similarly unimpressed. One said: “NHS literally commented on your video to not do this.”

Another, inspired by the NHS’s communications team, said: “Er, don’t do this.”

It is not the first time people have wasted lateral flow tests on random things that are not humans wishing to check symptoms of coronavirus.

Last month, fact checkers Full Fact were compelled to release a statement after a viral video claimed an orange had tested positive for Covid. They said they had also debunked claims about kiwi fruits and Coca Cola carrying the virus.

Meanwhile, the government has recently said asymptomatic people should take regular coronavirus tests to ensure they are not carrying the virus, and has made lateral flow tests freely available to do just that.

However, with viral videos like this, it seems likely that these tests will be used on apples or shampoo.

As the NHS says, please don’t do that.