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Written question asked by Lord Empey (Ulster Unionist Party) on Thursday, 24 September 2020, in the House of Lords. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 8 October 2020. It was answered by Lord Bethell (Conservative) on Monday, 14 December 2020 on behalf of the Department of Health and Social Care.

Coronavirus: Screening

Question

To ask Her Majesty's Government what initial estimate they have made of the cost of plans to introduce same day mass testing for COVID-19 in England.

Answer

An evaluation of testing the whole of Liverpool will inform the potential rollout of whole town or city testing to other areas, as part of the Government’s commitment to make mass testing available. Same day testing will involve several different types of technology including lateral flow devices.

A £500 million investment will accelerate the next generation of technologies to support our existing systems and better understand how mass testing could be used.

Our top priorities for testing, as they have been throughout the pandemic, are to allocate testing where it is needed most to save lives, protect the most vulnerable, and enable vital health and care services to operate safely.

In the future, in addition to our existing priorities, we will aim to use new testing technologies to test a higher proportion of the population over time, targeted at where it will have the most impact, and use testing to support the economy and wider society to return to a normal way of life.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
HL8444
Session
2019-21
Subjects
Screening Coronavirus
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk