Quick-result coronavirus tests are to be trialled in areas of northern England where cases are surging in a bid to speed up the process of isolating infected people, Downing Street has said.
And seven hospitals across England are to start regular testing of asymptomatic NHS staff with a recently-developed saliva swab known as a “Lamp test” (Loop-mediated Isothermal Amplification) in order to catch infections early.
Under a set of pilot schemes announced today, new-style lateral flow test kits will be sent to care homes, schools and universities in the northwest and northeast of England, as well as the Yorkshire & Humber region, said Downing Street.
Priority will be given to areas in the tier 3 “very high” alert level, currently covering just Merseyside and Lancashire.
The swab tests deliver a result within an hour without the need to be sent to a lab, but during the pilot phase any positive test will then need to be confirmed by existing technology, said prime minister Boris Johnson’s official spokesman.
Meanwhile, Lamp tests, which produce results within 60-90 minutes, will be made available immediately to staff in hospitals in Manchester, Basingstoke and Southampton.
Pilots will also begin shortly in Liverpool, Birmingham, Leeds and Newcastle.
Mr Johnson’s spokesman said the purpose of the pilots was “to test the most effective way of using these new technologies”.
The PM’s spokesman said that the government remained committed to delivering 500,000 conventional Covid tests a day by the end of this month, with more than 500 testing sites now operational and lab capacity “expanding rapidly”.
The spokesman was asked whether Mr Johnson agreed with NHS Test and Trace chief Dido Harding that the programme was not a “silver bullet” solution to the pandemic.
He replied: “Testing is an important part of the government’s overall strategy, which also includes putting in place local restrictions to bring the virus under control, putting in place a protective ring around care homes and a very detailed campaign of public health advice for members of the public.”
