Rapid tests sent to Blackpool to help find symptom-less Covid carriers

Matt Hancock told MPs that he had written to directors of public health across the country over providing “10 per cent of their population per week” with tests.

An initial 600,000 lateral flow test kits are being issued to certain local areas in the coming days, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has said, as part of the Government’s plan to expand asymptomatic testing for Covid-19.

Some 10,000 tests will be made available to each area to help them start testing priority groups, which will then be followed up with a weekly allocation.

The new lateral flow tests, which have been used in a mass testing pilot in Liverpool, have a turnaround time of under an hour.

Other areas due to receive the tests include Birmingham, Bristol, Newcastle, Sunderland, Wolverhampton, Manchester, Luton and several London boroughs.

Lateral flow tests have been available since Friday for people who live and work in Liverpool and do not have symptoms.

Speaking in the House of Commons yesterday afternoon, Mr Hancock said: “The next step is to roll out this mass testing capability more widely.

“So I can tell the House that last night I wrote to 67 directors of public health who have expressed an interest in making 10,000 tests available immediately and making available lateral flow tests for use by local officials, according to local needs, at a rate of 10% of their population per week.

“That same capacity – 10 per cent of the population per week – will be made available to the devolved administrations too.”

The DHSC said directors of public health had been prioritised for the first phase of rapid community testing based on the local prevalence of Covid-19 and expressions of interest to the department.

But any director who wants to start rolling out local testing using lateral flow tests can do so by contacting the DHSC.

The department said local teams could direct and deliver testing “based on their local knowledge”.

Blackpool's director of public health, Dr Arif Rajpura, said: "The availability of rapid-turnaround lateral flow tests provides the opportunity for us to expand access to testing for both symptomatic and asymptomatic residents, which will in turn help us to slow the spread of Covid-19. 

"We know that there are many people in our community that have mild or no classic symptoms of coronavirus and so are unaware that they may be putting others at risk of infection.

 "The test itself is able to detect the presence or absence of Covid-19 via a swab or saliva sample. Results are available within approximately 20 to 30 minutes, allowing us to ensure that anyone who tests positive can then follow the guidance on self-isolation.

 "We are in the process of planning how to best implement the testing regime and are looking to learn from other pilot areas, such as Liverpool. We hope to start piloting the system within the next couple of weeks.

"We have agreed to work in partnership with Fylde Coast Medical Services, which will employ a team of staff offering outreach testing for vulnerable individuals, such as the homeless. The team will also visit settings such as workplaces and educational environments to offer testing.

 "Positive results from the rapid-turnaround tests will be reported to the NHS Test and Trace system and published as part of daily case statistics. These figures will also specify which cases have been detected using the new testing method."

Dr Rajpura said a "small rise" in the resort's infection rate, which has gone down for two weeks running, may be noted following the "introduction of mass testing".

"But we also look at a range of indicators in order to assess the impact of the pandemic, including test positivity, which is the proportion of tests being carried out that return a positive result – this figure usually starts to rise when we see a true increase in cases," he added.

"With the introduction of mass testing, the test positivity is likely to decrease."