Thread by @AlisonBlunt

1. Drosten partner Olfert Landt: "50% of those infected are not infectious - why then quarantine?" Original article published 23.12.20 2020news.de/drosten-partne…
"In an interview with the Fuldaer Zeitung on 22.12.2020, Olfert Landt, the manufacturer of the so-called Drosten test,"

2. .."announced that it has been estimated that half of all people tested positive are not infectious. "We know that people with a low viral load are not infectious," said Landt, sole shareholder and managing director of the company TIB Molbiol, adding that in order to pose.."

3. .."a risk to third parties, a person who tested positive would have to carry "100 times more viral load than the detection limit of the tests." Landt demands the "courage" of the RKI to recommend quarantine only if there is a high risk of infection; ..."

4. .."otherwise, according to Landt, contact avoidance would be sufficient.
Further statements by Landt to the newspaper suggest that the number of non-infectious persons is likely to be even higher if one excludes those who tested falsely positive due to improper use .." ..

5. .."and cross-reactivity. Landt does not seem to have taken these into account in his estimate. He told the magazine: "You can do 100 cycles with a negative PCR, and it will stay negative." The reason he gives is that there are no related circulating viruses, which rules.."

6. .."out false positives.
2020News will ask Landt for scientific evidence to support the claim that the SARS-CoV-2 test is positive only for SARS-CoV-2. The INSTAND inter-laboratory test conducted by the German Accreditation Body under the direction of Prof Drosten ..." ..

7. .."has already shown 1.4 per cent false positive results in relation to a blank sample. For samples spiked with harmless coronaviruses, the rate of false positive results was even significantly higher at 2.6 to 7.6 per cent."

8. "With its product LightMix Modular SARS-CoV (COVID19) E-gene (catalogue number 53-0776-96), the company TIB Molbiol itself sells a kind of "broad-spectrum SARS coronavirus test" which, according to the package insert, already detects "SARS and SARS-CoV-2 as well as .."

9. .."other bat-associated, SARS-related viruses (sarbecovirus)", i.e. does not react exclusively to SARS- CoV-2.
There are also doubts about the scientific validity of Landt's statements insofar as the highly sensitive PCR test is also able to detect viral debris of .."

10. .."an infection that has already been overcome or pure contamination. The higher the number of cycles, the more amplified the sample of viral material that is no longer replicable. The sheer accumulation of viral debris, as irrelevant as it may be medically, can thus jump.."

11. .."the test's positive measurement threshold and lead to a false positive test result. This phenomenon is known to occur in many cases when more than 30 replication cycles are performed.
The LightMiX Modular SARS-CoV (COVID19) E-gene test from TIB Molbiol has a .."

12. .."recommended cut-off value of 36 cycles. For the product LightMix Modular SARS CoV (Covid19) RdRP (catalogue number 53-0777-96), the recommended cut-off value is even 40 cycles.
In an interview in the Fuldaer Zeitung, Landt calls for a rethink on the part of .."

13. .."the authorities: "It would be wise to issue the test results with an evaluation". He suggests that a person who has tested positive for the coronavirus but is not infectious or only slightly infectious should, for example, only be ordered by the authorities to .."

14. .."avoid contact. Quarantine should only be ordered if the risk of infection is high. "Unfortunately, the public does not dare to do this," says Landt, who would like to see "more courage" from the Robert Koch Institute in this regard.
Indirectly, Landt confirms with .."

15. .."this statement that ultimately it is the number of cycles performed that matters. The PCR test is not a qualitative test. Therefore, it cannot determine by other parameters than the number of cycles whether a live infection is in progress. The earlier the test .."

16. .."comes on, the higher the viral load and the greater the probability that a positive result correlates with a medically relevant infection.
According to his own statements to the Fuldaer Zeitung, Landt currently sells about two million tests per week. .."

17. "With a purchase price of about €5 per test set, TIB Molbiol's monthly turnover is currently about €40 million. As recently as 2019, the company had an annual turnover of about €16 million, with a net profit of about €7 million.
When asked about possible business.." ..

18. .."connections between Charité and TIB Molbiol, Landt explained in an interview with the Fuldaer Zeitung: "Charité occasionally buys primers and probes for research - that is the only business relationship" and "there is no cash flow or anything like that.
However,.."

19. .."2020News has the information that the Berlin Charité Vivantes GmbH laboratory - headed by Prof. Drosten - obtains its SARS-CoV-2 test kits from the company TIB Molbiol. Remarkably, the submission form for the laboratory is linked [virologie-ccm.charite.de/fileadmin/user…] at the RKI .."

20. .."under the keyword "Konsiliarlabor für Corona-Viren." [rki.de/DE/Content/Inf…]
Landt's statement that he has no business relations with the Charité in the sense of a corporation under public law, when at the same time he maintains the best business relations with its .."

21. .."subsidiary, could prove to be sophistry in this respect.
In this respect, too, 2020News will ask Landt to comment."

Recommending @_2020news and t.me/de_2020news channel amongst many other sources of actual news.

22. Unofficial translation available to download and share from this link archive.org/details/droste… It will also show up in the preview panel in an hour or two.