Employers signing up to rapid testing for Covid-19

The Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) said the Government is making millions of rapid test kits available to NHS and care home staff, primary care workers, schools, colleges and universities.

Local authorities in England are also receiving kits via the community testing offer.

The DHSC said it was rolling out rapid testing as around one in three people who have coronavirus are asymptomatic.

This, the department said, meant they could unknowingly be spreading Covid-19.

The Government is working with NHS Test and Trace to implement testing at businesses operating in sectors such as food, manufacturing, energy and retail and within the public sector including job centres, transport networks, and the military.

An estimated 734,600 lateral flow tests have been distributed across the public and private sector so far, helping workers who need to leave home for work during lockdown to continue to do so, while quickly identifying those who may be carrying the virus.

The Government says rapid testing in the workplace, using lateral flow tests, aims to help protect those at highest risk and provide vital information to help inform further roll-out of the technology in future.

Organisations signed up to workplace testing already include Royal Mail, Tate & Lyle Sugars, Primula, Moy Park, Octopus Energy, Apetito and the DVLA.

In addition to scaling up employer-led testing, targeted community testing is now being rolled out across all local authorities in England, with town halls being encouraged to target testing to people who are unable to work from home.

Some 156 local authorities are now rolling out community testing programmes, with more than seven million test kits delivered to participating councils.

Town halls will have to make the decision on how to use the tests, prioritising those who cannot work from home during the national lockdown. The Government has suggested these could include council workers, bin collectors or shop workers.

Health secretary Matt Hancock said: “With around one in three people not showing symptoms, testing those without symptoms is vital to breaking chains of transmission.

"By offering rapid testing in the workplace, we are offering additional peace of mind to those who are unable to work from home during the current lockdown.

“Lateral flow tests have already been hugely successful in finding positive cases we would not otherwise find and I encourage employers and workers to take this offer up to help protect essential services and businesses."

Tests detect cases with high levels of the virus, which the DHSC says makes them effective in finding infectious individuals who aren’t showing any symptoms and are the most likely to transmit the disease.

They are also being rolled out across primary care including general practice, community pharmacy, dentistry and optometry.

In addition, tests have been provided to independent sector providers and community interest companies providing NHS care.

Around 17 million tests have been approved for this, of which 7.5 million have already been distributed.

All NHS patient facing staff in acute, mental health, ambulance and community trusts have been provided with lateral flow tests to enable them to test themselves at home twice a week. Over 25 million tests have been distributed to date.

More than 21 million PCR swab test kits and 16 million lateral flow devices (LFDs) have been sent to care homes for testing all residents and asymptomatic staff.

Business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said: “Keeping workers safe is absolutely crucial and businesses have been working incredibly hard to prioritise the health of their staff and customers during this difficult time.

"I am pleased so many businesses have taken up the opportunity of rapid workplace testing. I would encourage even more to do so and to continue to follow our COVID-secure guidance as we pull together to protect our NHS and save lives.”

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