Sorry for the serious post, but thought you guys may be interested:
There is a 24 hour test called a pcr test, (polymerase chain reaction _ which means that is the molecular biology technique used to amplify up the number of copies of the viral RNA- if any present - on the swabs taken from your nasal mucosa and from behind your tonsils) It is a test which will make your eyes water and initiate your gag reflex if it is done properly. If there are any viral RNA copies i.e. virus present, then the pcr test should amplify them up and you would get a positive pcr test result or a negative one if no viral RNA in the original sample.
The lateral flow test is a rapid test which, as I understand it, relies on the presence or absence of an antibody to a portion of the virus i.e. you have or have not been exposed and your immune system is or is not producing antibodies which can recognise a viral epitope (a piece of the virus). However there are many different pieces of the virus, the ones which we are most concerned about are the ‘spike protein’s which the virus uses to bind to ACE receptors (Angiotensin Converting Enzyme) receptors which are present on many different cell types including those in the pulmonary epithelium and on the vascular endothelium, in order to gain entry to cells and infect them prior to viral reproduction, exocytosis and cell death.
The antigen/antibody reaction tests take between 15 minutes to two hours, whereas the pcr tests take 24 hours because the technologies are different.
The pcr tests (chain reaction = amplification) are much more sensitive but apparently more accurate, the antibody/ antigen tests are quicker but sadly apparently less reliable.