Home for Christmas Mass testing will allow students to leave campuses at end of term
Mass testing is to be rolled out at universities to get students home for Christmas, The Daily Telegraph can reveal.
Those with a negative result will be able to leave campus at the end of term without spreading the virus, under plans due to be unveiled by the Government. Vicechancellors have until the end of the week to decide whether they will take part in the scheme and until the end of the month to prepare test sites.
The mass testing plans are understood to be well received by university leaders, who previously rejected proposals that would have involved all students being forced to isolate for a fortnight prior to the end of term.
The testing would take place between Nov 30 and Dec 6, according to a timeline prepared by NHS Test and Trace and sent out to vice-chancellors.
Ministers are also considering asking universities to move teaching online for a period at the end of term.
MASS testing is to be rolled out at universities to get students home safely for Christmas, under plans due to be announced this week.
The Prime Minister said last night that guidance would shortly be issued on how universities should manage the mass movement of students at the end of term in a way that does not risk spreading the virus around the country.
The Daily Telegraph can reveal that the Government’s strategy involves setting up large-scale asymptomatic testing programmes at universities so that students with a negative test result can safely travel home. Michelle Donelan, the universities minister, has written to vice-chancellors asking whether they would be prepared to take part.
University leaders have been told that they need to register their interest in the scheme and place their order for testing kits by the end of this week. They would then have until the end of the month to prepare test sites and get them ready for operation.
The “pre-end-of-term testing” would take place between Nov 30 and Dec 6, according to a timeline prepared by NHS Test and Trace.
University leaders were told that one of the key objectives was to test asymptomatic students before the end of this term so that they could make “informed decisions regarding their return home for Christmas, minimising the risk of spreading the virus to vulnerable people at their destination”.
The plans are understood to have been warmly received by vice-chancellors, who previously rejected proposals from ministers that they should force students to self-isolate for a fortnight before the end of term.
“The letter has gone out to every university head, and my understanding is the vast majority are saying, yes, they do want to take part,” a source said. “They see it as a good way of getting their students home safely for Christmas.”
Ministers are also considering asking universities to move all teaching online for a period of time at the end of term, to further limit transmission on campuses.