Wirral will be given thousands of new rapid coronavirus tests - but the rollout will be different to Liverpool’s mass testing programme.
Last week, the government began a pilot of mass testing in Liverpool, an approach which uses new lateral flow antigen tests which can provide results within an hour.
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.
The government is now expanding its programme of testing asymptomatic people, with 10,000 test kits being sent out by NHS Test and Trace to over 50 local authority areas including Wirral and the rest of the Liverpool City Region.
This will then be followed up with a weekly allocation of lateral flow tests.
Cllr Janette Williamson, leader of Wirral Council, said: “I'm really pleased that Wirral is set to see a marked increase in testing which will allow key groups to be checked for Covid-19 and help us restrict the transmission of the virus.
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"The tests will be those used in the mass testing pilot carried out in Liverpool known as lateral flow antigen tests.
“These are a new kind of testing technology that do not require a laboratory to process the test, although swabbing and processing of these tests must be conducted by trained personnel and preparations for this are being put in place across the borough.”
Cllr Williamson explained that Wirral’s testing programme will not be exactly the same as Liverpool’s.
She added: "These new tests are specifically for people who do not have symptoms of Covid-19 (a high temperature, a new, continuous cough and a loss or change to your sense of smell or taste).
"If you do have symptoms, details of how to get tested are available here.
"At this stage it must be made clear this is not mass testing as we have seen in Liverpool, but it is a large scale targeted testing programme which will help us control the virus and limit its spread amongst the most vulnerable in the borough."
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