Two on-the-spot tests that can detect
coronavirus and flu within 90 minutes
are to be rolled out across Britain this
autumn, ministers have said.
In a significant boost to the effort to
control the virus as winter approaches,
the government has approved the
nationwide use of testing devices that
are faster and more accurate than those
presently being used.
For the first time, the tests are able to
identify coronavirus as well as winter
infections such as flu and other respira-
tory viruses, potentially reducing the
number of people asked to self-isolate.
They also do not require invasive nasal
and throat swabs that can make
providing a sample difficult and reduce
the chances of an accurate result.
Millions of the tests will be used by
hospitals, laboratories and the care
sector. Eventually it is hoped that the
machines used for the new tests will be
made more widely available, allowing
them to be deployed in schools, care
homes and businesses to provide
regular screening for Covid-19.
In other developments:
6 The coronavirus death toll has risen
by eight to 46,201, with confirmedinfections increasing by 744 to 304,695.
6 Downing Street is investigating
plans for a targeted risk register that
could mean more middle-aged people
being asked to shield in the event of a
second wave.
6 Civil servants are rebelling against
Boris Johnson’s order for a mass return
by government departments to their
offices.
6 A major incident was declared in
Greater Manchester last night after
coronavirus infection rates continued
to increase.
6 The government’s Eat Out to Help
Out scheme starts today. Rishi Sunak,Oliver Wright Policy Editor
Monday August 3 2020 | thetimes.co.uk | No 73228 2G £1.10 to subscribersDusted off La Pia Contrita, a work from 1832 by Pompeo Marchesi, is inspected and cleaned at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, which is reopening next week
Covid testing machines
give result in 90 minutes
the chancellor, said that more than
72,000 establishments had signed up to
the programme, which offers diners a
discount of 50 per cent off their bill, up
to £10 per person, on Mondays, Tues-
days and Wednesdays this month.
The government has the capacity to
test 220,000 people per day but minis-
ters want to increase this to 500,000 per
day in the autumn. The current tests
take six hours to process. People can
either attend special centres or have a
test sent to them in the post. The major-
ity of results take 24 hours, but postal
tests take up to four days. The health
Continued on page 8, col 1Right-wing
academics
‘forced to
hide views’
Nicola Woolcock
Education CorrespondentPro-Brexit and right-wing academics
feel forced to censor their political
views, putting free speech at universi-
ties under threat, a report has said.
Campuses are increasingly governed
by unwritten rules that mean lecturers
are under pressure to muzzle unfash-
ionable opinions for fear of being ostra-
cised or passed over for promotion, the
Policy Exchange think tank said.
A YouGov poll of 820 academics
found that nearly a third — 32 per cent
— of those who say their political views
are “right” or “fairly right” have stopped
openly airing opinions in teaching and
research, compared with 13 per cent of
those in the centre and on the left.
Among Brexit supporters, 27 per cent
said they had refrained from publishing
or airing views for “fear of consequen-
ces” to their career. This compares with
11 per cent of Remain supporters.
The report said that academics on
both the right and the left discriminate
against each others’ applications for
grants, promotion and manuscripts
submitted for publication. Of those on
the right, 50 per cent would choose a
Leave supporter over a Jeremy Corbyn
supporter during a job application pro-
cess when both candidates are equal,
while 40 per cent of those on the left
would do the opposite.
While those on both sides are simi-
larly willing to discriminate against
each other, the smaller proportion of
conservatives in academia results in a
much larger discriminatory effect
against them, the report claimed.
The poll found that 86 per cent of the
academics said they would be comfort-
able sitting next to a Remain supporter
at lunch. With a Leave supporter the
figure was 54 per cent.
Left-leaning respondents were most
likely to censor their critical perspec-
tives towards transgender issues. Only
37 per cent of respondents said they
would feel comfortable lunching with
someone who opposed admitting trans
women to women’s refuge centres.
The distribution of views among
academics has shifted over decades from
being reasonably split to significantly
left-leaning, the report said, adding
Continued on page 2, col 3JOE GIDDENS/PADevices will be rolled out nationwide to fight threat of second wave
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