Local authorities in tier 3, with the toughest Covid restrictions, will be invited to apply for funds to run mass testing programmes of people with no symptoms, in hopes of driving down the virus and moving to tier 2, the government has said. Public health directors will be able to put forward proposals for testing in those parts of their communities most at risk from the virus, if they so choose, which could be particular neighbourhoods or workplaces where infection rates are high. It would be open to them if they wanted to focus on particular ethnic minority communities, where there have been high death rates, if there was evidence they were more at risk or that an outbreak had originated in one community, with priority groups decided by local councils and directors of public health, the Department of Health and Social Care said. The programmes will run for six weeks and be supported by the government. They follow the mass testing pilot rolled out in Liverpool, which is said to have driven down the prevalence of the virus. However, testing in Liverpool was organised and supervised by the army. Other towns have already said they do not have the staff needed to run mass testing.
Gen Sir Gordon Messenger, head of operations for the programme, said at a Downing Street press conference that most areas would have to use their own people and resources. Military support of the kind that Liverpool had would be “simply undeliverable” for all of the country. “I can say with confidence that cannot be replicated around the country, and therefore the military support, along with all other types of central support, has to be targeted where it’s needed most and where it can have the greatest effect,” he said. “I have absolutely no doubt that the military will continue to play a really important part in the community testing programme but the baseline assumption in terms of workforce generation is that that will be delivered locally with considerable support from the centre.” Messenger also said he did not yet know how many of the 23 million people going into tier 3 after lockdown ends on Wednesday would be able to access the regime, as “planning is still very much under way”. But he said that capabilities will “sequence over time”, adding this would be into “January and beyond”. The testing will involve rapid lateral flow tests, which give a result in about 20 minutes. They are not as accurate as the gold-standard PCR test, which is run in a lab or mobile unit and takes considerably longer. But the health secretary, Matt Hancock, told the briefing testing was vital and could drive the virus levels down in tier 3 cities. “By expanding our testing to include people showing no symptoms, we are finding more positive cases more quickly and breaking chains of transmission,” he said. “Up to a third of people have coronavirus without symptoms, so it is incredibly important to be testing those who could be infecting others unknowingly. “When more people come forward for regular community testing, we have a much greater chance of driving down prevalence of the virus and saving lives. “I know people in the top tiers are facing a particularly difficult time, which is why we are supporting them with mass community testing to provide a route towards lowering the level of restrictions they face.”