England: Johnson pins hopes on mass Covid testing

Tests that indicate if people have the virus within 30 minutes will be available to every adult in the nation twice a week.

Everyone in England should be tested twice a week for coronavirus so that “we can get back to seeing the people we love”, Boris Johnson will say today.

Rapid tests that indicate whether individuals have the virus within 30 minutes will be available to every adult twice a week, regardless of whether they have symptoms or have been vaccinated.

The increased testing, which begins this Friday but has been practised by older children since they returned to school last month, will “help prevent outbreaks and help us reclaim a more normal way of life”, the government said. The tests will not be compulsory.

A pedestrian wearing a face covering walks past a souvenir shop, closed due to Covid-19, on Oxford Street in central London.

They will also assist attempts to act quickly against variants of concern as officials are more likely to spot new clusters of cases early. The government said that rapid testing, which has also been used for frontline health workers and care home staff and residents, had already identified more than 120,000 cases that would not otherwise have been known.

Adults in England will be able to order the lateral flow testing devices to their home or collect them from local pharmacies or testing sites. As the economy reopens many will be able to get a rapid test at their place of work, with 100,000 businesses having registered an interest in providing them to their employees. Individuals who are tested at home will need to record their results online or by calling NHS Test and Trace. Those who test positive will be instructed to self-isolate and order a more accurate PCR test. For every 1,000 lateral flow tests carried out there is less than one false positive, recent NHS analysis has found.

The mass testing plan, the first proposals for which were revealed by The Times in February, will be bolstered by an advertising campaign encouraging people to take the tests twice a week.

A woman takes a Covid-19 lateral flow test in London.

Covid-19 deaths have fallen to their lowest level since September 9. Yesterday (Sunday) ten deaths were reported in Britain within 28 days of a positive test, while the daily average for the past week is 35, a fall of 44 per cent on the previous week. More than one in ten people has received both doses of a vaccine.

Johnson’s most senior ministers will discuss the plans today (Monday). They include Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, Matt Hancock, the health secretary, and Michael Gove, the Cabinet Office minister, who is overseeing the review of plans for vaccination passports. They will then be discussed at a meeting of the cabinet.

A pedestrian wearing a face shield due to Covid-19, stands with a Union flag-themed bag as they make a video call in front of the Palace of Westminster.

In other developments:

- The prime minister will confirm today that the next stage of the economy’s reopening will proceed on April 12, with non-essential shops allowed to open and restaurants and pubs allowed to serve customers outside.

- More than 31 million people in Britain have received one dose of the vaccine and 5.4 million have received two, according to the latest figures. The second dose tally amounts to more than one in ten adults.

- The government will confirm plans for vaccination passports despite concerns from Conservative MPs. One former cabinet minister warned that the NHS was “very, very incompetent” at handling data.

- The testing announcement forms part of an address to the nation tonight in which Johnson will confirm a traffic-light system for categorising foreign holiday destinations when international travel resumes, no sooner than May 17.

Boxes of Covid-19 lateral flow test kits are received at a school in London.

In his speech he will say: “Massive efforts have been made by the British public to stop the spread of the virus. As we continue to make good progress on our vaccine programme and with our road map to cautiously easing restrictions under way, regular rapid testing is even more important to make sure those efforts are not wasted.

“That’s why we’re now rolling out free rapid tests to everyone across England - helping us to stop outbreaks in their tracks, so we can get back to seeing the people we love and doing the things we enjoy.”

Dr Susan Hopkins, chief medical adviser to NHS Test and Trace, said: “Rapid testing helps us find Covid-19 cases that we wouldn’t otherwise know about, helping to break chains of transmission. These tests are effective in detecting people that are infectious and therefore most likely to transmit infection to others. I encourage everyone to take up the offer of these free rapid tests - they are quick and easy to carry out in your own home.”

Labour welcomed the move but said the government should go further. “We’ve long called for mass testing for those with and without symptoms as a key element in tackling the spread of the virus,” Jonathan Ashworth, the shadow health secretary, said. “But to break transmission chains and suppress infections, testing must go hand in hand with community public health-led contact tracing to find cases and must be backed up by decent financial support so sick people can isolate.”

THE TIMES