UK expands coronavirus testing to track asymptomatic cases
The government is aiming to expand its coronavirus national testing study to 400,000 people to provide weekly tracking data and narrow down local outbreaks.
The Department of Health and Social Care said the infection survey will initially test 150,000 people in England per fortnight by October, up from 28,000 people now.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) Covid-19 infection survey, which tracks the virus in the general population, will aim to track 400,000 across the entire project in England. It has also partnered with Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, making it the UK’s largest coronavirus surveillance survey.
The expanded study aims to provide weekly data on the spread of infection, both nationally and in areas of concern.
The health department said the expansion of the study would help government and local authorities to further narrow down local outbreaks, potentially reducing the number of people affected by new restrictions. Notably, the ONS said it will ramp up testing in the North West of England, where the government has reimposed lockdown restrictions due to a spike in infections.
Professor Sir Ian Diamond, UK National Statistician, said: “Vigilance is key to containing this pandemic and the extra data on the spread of infections and antibodies at local level will be invaluable to the planning of effective local responses.”
Health secretary Matt Hancock also said the survey would help uncover how many people had the virus but were asymptomatic.
“Getting people who are asymptomatic to get a test is obviously challenging because often they don’t know that they’ve got the virus but this survey will help us to pinpoint where the virus is even amongst people who don’t know they’ve got it,” he told the BBC.
Earlier this week Hancock confirmed Public Health England will be replaced by a new body focused on preparing for external threats like pandemics.
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