Twice Weekly Testing

You may have seen the recent good news that the government plans to make rapid lateral flow testing available to everyone in England twice a week to prevent the spread of Covid-19, and in particular asymptomatic cases. This, in addition with workplace testing, will help workers and customers stay safe.

While businesses with 10 or more employees have until today, 12 April, to apply for free rapid Covid-19 tests for their staff (register here), this latest government announcement has provided more detail on other ways you will be able to get hold of tests, for example if your business has fewer than 10 employees. From 9 April, rapid tests will be available via the following ways:

• a home ordering service, which allows people to order lateral flow tests online to be delivered to their home
• community testing, offered by all local authorities
• collection at a local PCR test site during specific test collection time windows

This is alongside workplace testing programmes, either on-site or at home.

No laboratory equipment is needed for lateral flow tests – they can be taken at home and results are given in 30 minutes.

A new ‘Pharmacy Collect’ service is also launching which will provide an additional route to regular testing. People aged over 18 without symptoms will be able to visit a participating local pharmacy and collect a box of 7 rapid tests to use twice a week at home. If testing at home, individuals will need to register their results online or by calling 119. They should self-isolate if positive and order a confirmatory PCR test. Anyone with symptoms of Covid-19 should book a test online or by calling 119.