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Matt Hancock raises hopes of mass coronavirus testing — but gives no timeframe

Sky News
Sky News

An ambitious drive to hit the “moonshot” dream of mass population-wide testing for Covid-19 was outlined by the Health Secretary today — but with no timeframe.

Matt Hancock said ministers were “working as fast as we can” to make checks for coronavirus so frequent that many current restrictions could be eased.

“This is a really, really important drive that we have across government to bring in mass testing, population-wide testing,” Mr Hancock said.

New types of tests that could enable routine testing include saliva tests and pregnancy-style strips that manufacturers claim can detect traces of an active virus or antibodies from a past infection.

Italy is trialling a nasal swab test costing £10 that the Korean makers claims will give accurate results in as little as 15 minutes.

On BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Mr Hancock said: “The new technologies for testing that are coming on stream now are incredibly important. At the moment you have to send off a test to a laboratory and get it back and all the logistics of that takes time. It’s also quite expensive. We’re testing some of these right now in Porton Down, in our scientific labs.”

None of the quick tests has yet passed the rigorous UK testing regime as accurate enough for mass testing.

Chief medical officer Chris Whitty has cautioned that an inaccurate test is “worse than no test at all”.

Boris Johnson was disappointed when simple antibody tests that he hoped would be a “game changer” in April failed to prove accurate enough.

A testing station (REUTERS)
A testing station (REUTERS)

Mr Hancock said the “moonshot to have testing ubiquitous and available” would “reduce the burden of the quarantine arrangements, which nobody wants to have in place”.

Mass testing could in theory see a return of packed sports stadiums and live music events — and a mass return to work. It could also prevent local outbreaks spreading.

Oldham was the latest town fearing a return to lockdown which the council leader said would prove “catastrophic”.

Labour councillor Sean Fielding urged ministers not to impose stricter measures in the Greater Manchester town, even though “raw numbers” are similar to those in Leicester when it was put into local lockdown.

He told Today: “We’re strongly making the case up here in Oldham that that would not be the right solution for the wave of the pandemic that we’re seeing.”

Meanwhile Heathrow airport announced the development of a new coronavirus testing facility it hopes will lead to the end of the mandatory 14-day quarantine for people arriving from high-transmission countries and “protect the economy”.

But Mr Hancock said the £150 test on arrival could miss cases where people were “incubating” the disease.

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