Sports stadiums could screen tens of thousands every hour
SCIENTISTS working at the chemical weapons testing laboratory at Porton Down are working on rapid Covid tests that can diagnose tens of thousands of people an hour to unlock the British summer of sport.
Porton Down scientists are verifying a number of different schemes for mass testing for thousands of spectators in a matter of minutes to allow for sports events in June.
The tests could see tens of thousands of sports fans checked an hour before going into watch sports events at stadiums this summer, according to industry sources familiar with the plan.
One testing source told The Sunday
Telegraph: “There are possibilities that involve being able to process tens of thousands of tests an hour.
“Technology has been adapted from agriculture and other areas where high volume processing is the norm and being applied to this human application like never before.” Health ministers have already commissioned PHE Porton Down to establish a time-limited SARS-CoV-2 test development and evaluation programme last August.
Since then a scientific team has been established to deliver this work in collaboration with the University of Oxford, and Porton Down’s external scientific advisers through a three stage process.
By the end of the testing process thousands of the tests are being checked by the scientists at Porton Down. One senior government source said: “There are a number of technologies that are coming through that are really very fast. [Porton Down] is looking at the efficacy and the accuracy.
“There are a number of them under testing at the moment. It is very very fast volume and speed.”
Last week, Nadhim Zahawi, the vaccines minister, made clear in an online forum with the Reaction website that mass rapid testing will be a large part of how the UK returns to normal. Mr Zahawi said: “We think that rapid testing is one of the ways that we open the economy, whether it be large concerts or other parts of the economy.
“So testing certification needs to be easily available on your phone if you need to show you have had a test if you need to attend a sporting event or anything else.”