N.Y. POST
Coronavirus testing: What is a false positive?
https://www.bbc.com/news/54270373
The false positive rate usually refers to the number of people who are not infected but get positive results, as a proportion of all the people tested who really don't have the virus. We do not know what the precise rate is though.
Dr Paul Birrell, a statistician at the Medical Research Council's Biostatistics Unit at the University of Cambridge, says: "The false positive rate is not well understood and could potentially vary according to where and why the test is being taken. A figure of 0.5% for the false positive rate is often assumed."
....Figures for late September from Public Health England show that 7% of community tests were positive. That means of every 1,000 people tested, 70 were positive. Even with a false positive rate of 0.8%, seven of those would be false positives, but 63 would be true positives - the vast majority.
.................................................. .........
Additionally, personal examinations are used for conformation.
