What does a mixed-tube positive sample mean?

Mixed tube positive samples are those in which one or more positive samples are found in a mixed test tube, but it is not possible to directly identify which of the relevant testers is the positive case. Mixed tube testing is the mixing of multiple human specimens sampled into the same test tube for testing, e.g., 5 mix 1, 10 mix 1, etc.; it is primarily intended for new coronavirus screening, to increase the efficiency of the screening process, and also to reduce the cost of the test. When there are one or more positive results in the test tube, it is a mixed tube positive, suggesting that one or more of the relevant testers are infected with NeoCoronavirus, but because it is a mixed test, it is not possible to identify the corresponding tester(s) directly. In this case, it is necessary to search for the included tester(s) according to the queuing information of the people registered in the mixed tube, and then conduct retesting of a single person and a single tube to identify the real infected person(s).