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Liverpool Echo
Liverpool Echo
World
Lottie Gibbons

Record number of lateral flow tests available this month, says Gillian Keegan

A record number of lateral flow tests will soon be made available according to health minister Gillian Keegan.

Over the past few weeks, the UK Government has scrambled to secure supplies of tests from around the world to meet a surge in demand as people try to comply with guidance to limit the spread of the Omicron variant.

Several times during the festive period, home delivery slots for lateral flow tests were unavailable on the Gov.UK website.

READ MORE: Nurse sleeping in her car with her two dogs and washing in supermarket toilets

Pharmacies also complained about patchy supplies of lateral flow kits.

But Ms Keegan has assured the public there will be no issues ordering lateral flow tests.

The health minister told BBC Breakfast: "What we've got is many, many more lateral flow tests.

"Yesterday was a record - we sent out 741,000 lateral flow tests to people's homes.

"We've tripled capacity - that's what we've been working on over Christmas - so for January and February, we have 350 million lateral flow tests, so hopefully that should sort out some of the short-term supply issues that we've had where people have had to wait a little bit to get their packs.

"We're doing so many of these and they are really accurate when you've got a very infectious variant like Omicron."

It comes as reports suggest coronavirus testing rules are set to be eased to reduce the time people have to spend in isolation as Boris Johnson acts to combat staff absences in key parts of the economy and health service.

People who test positive on a lateral flow test will no longer need a confirmatory PCR to begin the self-isolation period if they do not have symptoms, potentially allowing them to return to work earlier, under plans being considered by ministers.

Under the changes to the testing regime, first reported by the Daily Telegraph, the PCR capacity in laboratories will be limited to those with Covid-19 symptoms.

Currently those without symptoms who test positive on a lateral flow are asked to order a PCR test and only begin their isolation period when they receive the second result, effectively forcing them to isolate for longer than seven days - particularly if there are delays in obtaining the confirmatory result.

Ms Keegan told the BBC there was no "official news or updates" on the change but as lateral flow tests are accurate the Government was "looking at what makes sense, we don't need to do things that are unnecessary".

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