Coronavirus vaccine Photograph:( AFP )
If the plan gets implemented successfully, it would result in about 5 million tests each week, which is significantly more than nearly 300,000 PCR daily tests that are carried out
In a plan to step up UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson's "Operation Moonshot", a report claimed the region's planning to test up to 10 per cent of England's population every week.
In a letter accessed by the Guardian, UK's National Health Services (NHS) said it is embarking on an "important new front in our fight against coronavirus" and asked all public health directors to sign up to procure rapid Covid-19 test kits for testing up to a tenth of their population every week to contain outbreaks and restore freedoms.
If the plan gets implemented successfully, it would result in about 5 million tests each week, which is significantly more than nearly 300,000 PCR daily tests that are carried out.
Saliva tests, known as lateral flow tests, will contribute to this boost in testing as they are known to give results faster than PCR tests, which in many cases are taking longer than 48 hours to process.
These tests will target asymptomatic people to "protect those at higher risk, find the virus, break transmission and enable wider social and economic activity," NHS test and trace informed public health directors.
A few weeks ago, the British PM said the saliva tests would become "to help control localised outbreaks".
Matt Hancock, the health secretary, told parliament a week ago the government had purchased "many millions" of saliva test kits produced by the company Innova.
Alex Cooper, director of rapid testing at NHS test and trace, wrote in the leaked letter: "Each director of public health will be eligible to receive on a weekly basis the number of tests equivalent to 10% of their population."