The Times - UK (2020-10-17)

Britain will be carrying out a million

coronavirus tests a day by Christmas,

scientists have predicted.

The forecast came after ministers

spent more than £500 million in the

past fortnight on new laboratory-based

testing machines that will more than

triple the government’s present capacity

of about 300,000 tests a day.

In addition schoolchildren will be

offered weekly coronavirus screening

as early as next week after government

scientists approved a new rapid test

using a saliva swab. It is being likened to

a pregnancy test in that it can give

results in as little as 15 minutes without

needing to be sent to a laboratory.

One senior scientist involved in the

testing programme told The Times: “It’s

going pretty well. They have really

scaled up their capabilities. By

Christmas we’ll be at a million a day, I

think. That seems perfectly possible.”

He said that the government was

buying new testing machines that

were capable of providing 150,000 tests

a day. These are designed to expand

the capacity of the five so-called

Lighthouse labs used to process tests.

Another type of testing machine

could be used to provide intensive and

regular testing in hospitals or commu-

nity hotspots. Produced by the British-

based company Oxford Nanopore, it is

the size of a desktop computer and can

process up to 15,000 tests a day.

Separately, pilot trials of the preg-

nancy-style mouth-swab coronavirus

tests will begin in schools and univer-

Oliver Wright Policy Editor

Chris Smyth Whitehall Editor

SATURDAY

October 17 2020 | thetimes.co.uk | No 73293

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sities as early as next week in infection

hotspots in the north of England.

They will provide the most tangible

sign yet that Boris Johnson’s “moon-

shot” plan of regular tests for everyone

in the country might become a reality.

It is hoped that testing could be used

over the winter to stop whole school

“bubbles” having to isolate if one pupil

becomes ill. Hospitals will also start

using separate 20-minute tests that will

require technicians.

Millions of both types have already

been bought and Mr Johnson said the

government had “started building the

infrastructure for domestic manufacture

of these tests, ensuring that Britain has

the ability to produce millions of fast

tests here”.

Monthly testing of everyone in

Britain could be enough to keep the

virus under control if contact tracing is

working and people stick with social

distancing and hygiene measures,

according to calculations by the Scien-

tific Advisory Group for Emergencies

(Sage).

The developments came as:

6 The prime minister accused political

leaders in Manchester of putting the

lives of its citizens at risk as they

continued to refuse to put the region

into the most severe tier of lockdown.

6 Lancashire followed Liverpool into

a Tier 3 lockdown, doubling to

3.1 million the number of people living

under the tightest rules.

6 The government’s chief scientific

officer warned that even the most

restrictive tier of lockdown might not

be enough to bring down infection rates y(7HB7E2*OTSPQL( |||+[!$

Super Trouper Dame Julie Walters, 70, has suggested that her acting career is over

unless she can star in another Mamma Mia film. She has been given the all-clear

after a stage-three cancer diagnosis in 2018. News, page 5; Interview, Saturday Review

Scientists

predict 1m

tests a day

Coronavirus results in 15 minutes by Christmas

NICKY JOHNSTON/CAMERA PRESS

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