The rest of the Liverpool City Region is set to get mass testing for covid-19, the government has confirmed.
The boroughs of Wirral, Knowsley, Sefton, St Helens and Halton will be among the areas to follow Liverpool by offering mass, rapid-turnaround tests for the virus.
Warrington, which is outside the city region, will also be included.
It follows the successful launch of a pilot testing programme in the city of Liverpool, where 23,000 people have come forward to get tested since Friday lunchtime.
So far more than 150 people, who were not suffering with symptoms and otherwise would not have got a test, have been found to be positive for the virus and asked to self-isolate.
Over half a million rapid-turnaround lateral flow tests will be sent out by NHS Test and Trace to local public health leaders this week, signalling the next phase of the government’s plan to expand asymptomatic testing for COVID-19, the Prime Minister announced today.
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This new testing technology – which is already being rolled out as part of whole-city testing in Liverpool that began on Friday – can provide results within an hour without needing to be processed in a lab.
Test kits will be issued to over 50 directors of public health across England this week, to enable local teams to direct and deliver community testing based on their local knowledge.
Each will receive a batch of 10,000 antigen lateral flow devices as part of a new pilot to enable them to start testing priority groups.
Directors of public health will determine how to prioritise the allocation of these new tests, based on the specific needs of their communities, and will determine how people in the local area are tested.
They will be supported by NHS Test and Trace to expand testing programmes in their area through access to training and clinical and operational guidance.
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This initial 600,000 batch will then be followed up with a weekly allocation of lateral flow antigen tests.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock has now written to all upper-tier local authority leaders, confirming that all directors of public health will be offered this weekly allocation, equivalent to 10% of their population.
The Department of Health said that Directors of public health were prioritised for the first phase of rapid community testing based on the local prevalence of COVID-19 and expressions of interest to the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC).
Matt Hancock, said: "Last week we rolled out mass testing in Liverpool using new, rapid technology so we can detect this virus quicker than ever before, even in people who don’t have symptoms. Mass testing is a vital tool to help us control this virus and get life more normal.
"I am delighted to say 10,000 of these tests will now be sent out by NHS Test and Trace to over 50 directors of public health as part of our asymptomatic testing strategy. I want to thank all directors of public health for their support and efforts over the past months to help us tackle this virus, bring it under control and get the country back to what we love doing."
More details on how each council in our area will operate the testing programme are expected soon.
