New coronavirus tests which can display results in as little as fifteen minutes could be heading to Southwark schools.
Southwark’s acting head of public health, Jin Lim, said on Tuesday night that a roll-out of lateral flow tests is being considered for schools, and potentially care home visitors and staff.
The tests are for the asymptomatic, raising the prospect of Southwark school-children being tested even when they aren’t experiencing symptoms.
Southwark was named on Tuesday as one of 67 local authorities where mass rapid testing is expected to be available.
Health secretary Matt Hancock wrote to public health leads announcing the initial 600,000 rapid tests, with weekly top-ups, giving councils capacity to test ten per cent of their population.
“They should, if they work wonderfully, provide results in about half an hour,” said Mr Lim.
“We feel we should pilot this in particular settings.
“Perhaps piloting around schools and special schools, and possibly around care homes, and possibly around home care staff.
“We’ll also think about using it in university settings, some of the halls of residences.”
Hospitality staff are also being considered for the council’s allocation of rapid tests, but no concrete plan has been set. “It’s very, very early days,” Mr Lim said.
Council bosses hope that the tests will pick up previously undetected cases and stop them spreading onto others, and avoid the need for lockdowns in the future.
The council is “actively” hunting sites in the north of the borough for a new testing centre, and eventual mass coronavirus vaccination site.
Currently there are two test centres in the middle of the borough, in Peckham Pulse and Burgess Park.
“It’s proving very difficult finding space in the north of the borough because of the density of the space,” he said at a meeting of councillors.
“We’re still on the hunt for something in the north of the borough – the hunt’s not just for testing, it’s also about potential sites for doing the Covid vaccinations when that’s available.”
Councillors suggested Southwark Park and Deal Porter’s Square for a new testing site, which Mr Lim said officials would look into.
A proposal to set up a new test centre in the Geraldine Harmsworth park, next to the Imperial War Museum was junked, because it wasn’t a suitable space, he added.
Public health officials have also faced a difficulty in tracing some cases for a bizarre reason, Mr Lim revealed.
It is thought that people may be walking up to test centres and pre-booking a test on their phone as they walk – and entering in their details wrong because they are doing it too fast.
“We are looking into it,” Mr Lim said.