I did a PCR test on Thursday morning (no symptoms at the time, but had a positive lateral flow test on Wednesday and developed symptoms later in the day on Thursday).
I posted it (in a priority postbox) at 11.20am on Thursday. When I checked the tracking it wasn't registered as entering the postal system until 28 hours later - on Friday afternoon. The next entry in the tracking had it as still being in my home city on Friday evening. It was delivered to the lab at 5am on Saturday.
I haven't had the results yet (2.10pm on Sunday now).
I rang the helpline yesterday because I wasn't sure if such a long postal delay would impact on the effectiveness of the test. I know the test kits stress the importance of posting them back on the same day you do the test. The advice I received was just "if it comes back void you can just retest". But tomorrow (Monday) will presumably be the last day I can do that with hope of still being accurate, as it will be 5 days after my symptoms started.
Does anyone know whether postal delays do impact the effectiveness of the tests?
Is anyone else experiencing long delays lie this at the moment?