Teen truants using lemon juice and hacks to fake positive covid tests

British teens are learning how to fake positive Covid tests through TikTok app.

Teens in Britain that want to play truant from school have found a way to use lemon juice and other hacks to fake Covid tests through popular app, TikTok. The videos, racking up millions of views, show young people applying various liquids to lateral flow tests.

The search hashtag #fakecovidtest has been viewed over 6.5 million times and a dedicated account @.fakecovidtests has gained over 20,000 followers.

Education leaders say this practice is “very unhelpful” at a time when schools are already struggling to keep schools going amidst the health crises.

“We are sure this involves a very small minority of pupils, and that for the most part the tests are used correctly,” Geoff Barton, General Secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, told i.

“However, we would urge parents to ensure that tests are not being misused, and we would suggest to pupils who are interested in chemical reactions that the best place to learn about them is in chemistry lessons in school.”

Vinegar, Coca Cola and hand sanitiser are among the suggestions to use in hope of a positive Covid test, however, many have pointed out that pupils’ positive lateral flow tests will also need to be followed up with a PCR test.

Mary Bousted, joint general secretary of the National Education Union, said this week that the spread of the Delta variant throughout schools meant an “untenable” situation in some parts of the UK. She added that pupils should be tested in schools.

A TikTok spokesperson said: “Our community guidelines make clear that we remove content which includes misleading information that causes harm, including medical misinformation related to Covid-19, and anti-vaccine disinformation more broadly.

“Since the start of the pandemic, we have worked to provide our community with access to trusted information, and through our partnership with Team Halo, scientists from all over the world have shared how vaccinations are created and tested for safety.”

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