Asymptomatic Testing to be Rolled Out Across the UK

Rapid, regular testing for people without symptoms of coronavirus (COVID-19) will be expanded to cover all 317 local authorities after it was discovered that around 1 in 3 people have coronavirus (COVID-19) without displaying any symptoms.

Expansion of asymptomatic testing will identify more positive cases of COVID-19 and ensure those who are infected isolate themselves, protecting those who cannot work from home and our vital services.

So far, 131 local authorities have signed up to community testing, with 107 already having started testing in their communities. Many of these, including Essex and Milton Keynes, are focusing on the testing of critical workers and those who must leave home for essential reasons.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock said: “With roughly a third of people who have coronavirus not showing symptoms, targeted asymptomatic testing and subsequent isolation is highly effective in breaking chains of transmission. Rapid, regular testing is led by local authorities who design programmes based on their in-depth knowledge of the local populations, so testing can have the greatest impact.

“We are now expanding this offer to every local authority across the country, and asking testing to be targeted on workers who cannot work from home during this national lockdown, while asking employers to work with us to scale up workforce testing.

“Lateral flow tests have already been hugely successful in finding positive cases quickly – and every positive case found is helping to stop the spread – so I encourage employers and workers to take this offer up. We must all do all we can to stop the spread of COVID, right now,” he concluded.

Targeted, regular community testing using lateral flow tests has already identified over 14,800 positive COVID-19 cases who would not have been identified without targeted asymptomatic testing, breaking chains of transmission in the community.

This latest expansion of the testing programme builds on the millions of asymptomatic critical workers being tested every week, such as NHS patient-facing staff and care home staff. Existing plans for the rapid testing of staff and students in secondary schools and colleges, and staff in primary schools, also remain in place. Secondary schools have set up testing sites and have started to test staff and pupils who remain in school, such as the children of critical workers, or vulnerable children. Primary schools will start to receive their test kits shortly for the weekly testing of their staff.

The latest local authorities to join the community testing programme are:

• Doncaster
• Milton Keynes
• Slough

Essex, covering:

• Basildon
• Braintree
• Brentwood
• Castle Point
• Chelmsford
• Colchester
• Epping Forest
• Harlow
• Maldon
• Rochford
• Tendring
• Uttlesford

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