Ct value of Covid-19 testing in New Zealand
Virginia Crawford made this Official Information request to Ministry of Health
Response to this request is long overdue. By law Ministry of Health should have responded by now (details and exceptions). The requester can complain to the Ombudsman.
From: Virginia Crawford
Dear Ministry of Health,
I understand that the cycle threshold referred to in FYI https://fyi.org.nz/request/14173-amplifi...
is 40. Can you confirm that this value (40) is used in processing ALL tests done in New Zealand?
Could you explain why such a high value is being used?
Yours faithfully,
Virginia Crawford
From: OIA Requests
Kia ora
Thank you for your request for official information received on 9 December
2020 for:
“I understand that the cycle threshold referred to in FYI
https://scanmail.trustwave.com/?c=15517&...
is 40. Can you confirm that this value (40) is used in processing ALL
tests done in New Zealand?
Could you explain why such a high value is being used?”
The Ministry's reference number for your request is: H202009431.
As required under the Official Information Act 1982, the Ministry will
endeavour to respond to your request no later than 9 February 2021, being
20 working days after the day your request was received.
Please note, the three weeks between Christmas Day and 15 January 2021 do
not count as working days. For more information, please refer to the
following website: http://www.ombudsman.parliament.nz/
If we are unable to respond to your request within this time frame, we
will notify you of an extension of that time frame.
If you have any queries related to this request, please do not hesitate to
get in touch.
Ngâ mihi
OIA Services
Government Services
Office of the Director-General
Ministry of Health
E: [email address]
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From: Virginia Crawford
Dear OIA Requests,
Further to my request above, I would like to draw your attention to the PCR handbook:
https://www.gene-quantification.de/real-...
If you look at page 25, you will see at the bottom of the page, the following:
"For Research Use Only. Not for use in diagnostic procedures.”
Should the PCR process be used for testing Covid-19?
Yours sincerely,
Virginia Crawford
From: OIA Requests
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Kia ora,
Please find attached a letter regarding your request for information.
Ngâ mihi,
OIA Services
Government Services
Office of the Director-General
Ministry of Health
E: [1][email address]
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From: Virginia Crawford
Dear OIA Requests,
Could you please direct me to the document that stipulates this (40 Ct), as my understanding is that the number of cycles can be anything from 20 onwards, with a MAXIMUM of 40, not that it SHOULD be 40.
Yours sincerely,
Virginia Crawford
From: Virginia Crawford
Dear OIA Requests,
You have not responded to my further request dated 24th January, where I drew your attention to the bottom of Page 25 of the PCR handbook, where it says that the test is for research only and not for diagnostic purposes. This text also appears at the bottom of other odd numbered pages, not just page 25.
Yours sincerely,
Virginia Crawford
Ministry of Health
Kia ora
Thank you for your request for official information received 1 February
2021 for:
"Could you please direct me to the document that stipulates this (40 Ct),
as my understanding is that the number of cycles can be anything from 20
onwards, with a MAXIMUM of 40, not that it SHOULD be 40"
The Ministry's reference number for your request is: H202100581.
As required under the Official Information Act 1982 we will endeavour to
respond to your request no later than 2 March 2021, being 20 working days
after the day your request was received.
If we are unable to respond to your request within this time frame, we
will notify you of an extension of that time frame.
If you have any queries related to this request, please do not hesitate to
get in touch.
Ngā mihi
OIA Services
Government Services
Office of the Director-General
Ministry of Health
E: [email address]
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Brian Sandle left an annotation ()
On Jan 11 Jeremy Chang left an annotation in which he referred to an RNZ news article from 23 Sept in which Dr Ashley Bloomfield describes stages of cycles and meaning.
However this undated reply to Virginia Crawford from Dr Kelvin Watson at MOH says:
"I can confirm that PCR assays for all COVID-19 tests run for 40 cycles in IANZ accredited New
Zealand laboratories. This is stipulated by the manufacturer instructions who have performed
extensive validation and verification of their assays."
https://fyi.org.nz/request/14341/respons...
Can anyone see clarification since very much worry is created by this statement from overseas:
"An important question that demands an answer is whether the experts at our federal health agencies and the World Health Organization were really too ignorant to understand the implications of using this test at excessive CT, or whether it was done on purpose to create the illusion of a dangerous, out-of-control pandemic."
To keep up our confidence in our MOH we need to get replies to points:
https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defen...
From: OIA Requests
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Kia ora
Please find attached a letter regarding your request for information.
Ngā mihi,
OIA Services
Government Services
Office of the Director-General
Ministry of Health
E: [1][email address]
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attachments may contain information that is IN-CONFIDENCE and subject to
legal privilege.
If you are not the intended recipient, do not read, use, disseminate,
distribute or copy this message or attachments.
If you have received this message in error, please notify the sender
immediately and delete this message.
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From: Virginia Crawford
Dear OIA Requests,
I would like to draw your attention to the following:
Users of RT-PCR reagents should read the IFU carefully to determine if manual adjustment of the PCR positivity threshold is necessary to account for any background noise which may lead to a specimen with a high cycle threshold (Ct) value result being interpreted as a positive result.
The design principle of RT-PCR means that for patients with high levels of circulating virus (viral load), relatively few cycles will be needed to detect virus and so the Ct value will be low. Conversely, when specimens return a high Ct value, it means that many cycles were required to detect virus. In some circumstances, the distinction between background noise and actual presence of the target virus is difficult to ascertain.
This is a direct quote from the latest WHO notice for IVD users, viz
https://web.archive.org/web/202101200834...
It has also been stated by Anthony Fauci at various times that a Ct value over 35 is likely to lead to a unreliable result.
By the way, Dr Kary Mullis, who won the Nobel Prize for inventing the PCR process, was clear that it wasn’t meant as a diagnostic tool.
Yours sincerely,
Virginia Crawford
From: Virginia Crawford
Dear OIA Requests,
In reference to your statement, viz
"SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR testing used in our accredited medical diagnostic laboratories have undergone rigorous validation for specific performance characteristics that include analytical and clinical sensitivity and specificity for the detection of SARS-CoV-2."
Using this test in the absence of clear clinical symptoms, is in clear violation of the original intention by the inventor of the PCR process. Not only that, but the efficacy of this process has been widely challenged and its use is now considered fraudulent.
Yours sincerely,
Virginia Crawford
Brian Sandle left an annotation ()
Here is a very interesting talk from a former Vice President of Pfizer. Far too many false positives from the PCR test which cannot distinguish between live and dead viral material.
https://rumble.com/vbgkcv-former-pfizer-...
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Jeremy Chang left an annotation ()
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/4267...
From this article it appears Dr. Ashley Bloomfield suggested the value was 30 and not 40.
Link to this