Health secretary Matt Hancock released a list of 66 authorities in England to be sent a total of 600,000 of the new lateral flow tests, which are able to deliver results in a matter of minutes.
And he said his aim was to roll out the tests across the whole of the UK as part of a Operation Moonshot drive to quickly identify people infected with Covid-19 so that they and their close contacts can self-isolate and avoid passing the disease on.
Around 10,000 tests are to be sent to each of the participating areas so they can start mass testing in their localities, in a process which the Department of Health and Social said would kick-start a “significant expansion” of testing across the country.
Mr Hancock said: “Last week we rolled out mass testing in Liverpool using new, rapid technology so we can detect this virus quicker than ever before, even in people who don’t have symptoms. Mass testing is a vital tool to help us control this virus and get life more normal.
“I am delighted to say 10,000 of these tests will now be sent out by NHS Test and Trace to over 50 directors of public health as part of our asymptomatic testing strategy. I want to thank all directors of public health for their support and efforts over the past months to help us tackle this virus, bring it under control and get the country back to what we love doing.”
Speaking to BBC Breakfast, Mr Hancock said the “much more versatile” lateral flow tests would be rolled out in Nottinghamshire as well as “across Yorkshire, the West Midlands, other parts of the North West and the whole of the North East and other parts”.
On Friday, queues built up outside the new test centres which opened at midday, with people waiting around 45 minutes outside the Liverpool Tennis Centre – one of the six facilities – before it opened.
Liverpool’s director of public health Matt Ashton said on Saturday the mass testing was showing positive signs after thousands of people were tested on the first day of the pilot scheme.
The programme aims to test up to 50,000 people a day once fully operational, he added.
The city’s mayor, Joe Anderson, on Monday said 23,170 people have been tested for coronavirus in the city since midday on Friday, with 0.7% testing positive.
The council areas to receive lateral flow tests this week are:
* Barking and Dagenham
* Birmingham
* Blackburn and Darwen
* Blackpool
* Calderdale
* City of London
* County Durham
* Coventry
* Darlington
* Doncaster
* East Riding of Yorkshire
* Gateshead
* Greenwich
* Hammersmith and Fulham
* Hartlepool
* Hertfordshire
* Kingston upon Hull
* Islington
* Kensington and Chelsea
* Kingston upon Thames
* Knowsley
* Lewisham
* Manchester
* Middlesborough
* Newcastle upon Tyne
* North Tyneside
* Northumberland
* Nottingham City
* Nottinghamshire
* Redbridge
* Redcar and Cleveland
* Richmond upon Thames
* Rochdale
* South Tyneside
* Southwark
* St Helen’s
* Staffordshire
* Stockport
* Stockton-on-Tees
* Sunderland
* Tameside
* Tower Hamlets
* Trafford
* Wakefield
* Waltham Forest
* Wandsworth
* Warrington
* Wolverhampton
