Forget snooping on your neighbours; we can sort out our country’s frustrating testing fiasco

Politicians love hyperbole but whichever way you look at it Britain’s testing system is far from “world-beating”. We’re told it could take weeks to solve the current testing fiasco, that’s unacceptable.

Thousands of people are trying to be responsible and get tested. If they are then to be told to travel hundreds of miles, many just won’t bother. Forget snooping on your neighbours or policing children’s birthday parties, the testing crisis needs to be solved and fast.

Everyone knew that winter pressures would increase demand on our testing system, so why are we in this mess and, more importantly, how do we get out of it?

Our administration is poor by international standards but our scientists are not. It’s why there is so much frustration growing.

Other countries have shown real imagination and innovation to tackle some of the issues we all face, so why can’t we? Scientists are providing answers and we have some of the brightest but, for reasons unknown, ministers seem unwilling to fully embrace them. No industries have been more impacted than travel and hospitality, both have been suffocated by ludicrous and inconsistent quarantine rules.

Whether it’s for international travel or for cancer treatment, let’s start thinking outside the box. The challenges are the same. We need to ensure that we reduce the risk from people who can transmit the virus entering, whether it be staff, customers or patients. Covid-free zones are essential.

Checking for the presence of viral RNA by PCR is the most reliable current test. But we’ve all seen the images of health professionals in terrifying hazmat suits sticking swabs up noses. It’s not only intrusive and unpleasant but risky for whoever’s taking the sample. For some months it’s been clear that saliva testing can match its effectiveness, at far less hassle and cost. Self-testing is fraught with difficulties – sticking a swab far enough up your nose to collect the sample is just unpleasant. Collecting saliva into a tube is far easier and so much more reliable.

False positives are a real issue, however the sample is collected. With saliva testing, fragments of dead virus don’t hang around as long as they do in the cells lining the nasal passages. Saliva provides a clearer picture of what’s really going on. It’s all too easy to criticise the Government’s quarantine scheme with no credible solutions, but we have one.

Forget testing on arrival, it’s pointless. Anyone could be infected on the flight and it wouldn’t show up on the test at the airport as the virus hasn’t had time to multiply. Instead of the current 14-day quarantine, give them a saliva kit to use on day five after going home. If it’s negative, they’re free to go, dramatically cutting down the inconvenience.

Keeping the virus out of Rutherford’s buildings is crucial – we have some extremely vulnerable patients undergoing treatment that affects their immune system. Temperature testing, distancing, all the other usual methods are used but nothing will be as effective as weekly saliva testing. The long turnaround on government tests is causing chaos. Operations are on hold, precious beds remain empty and surgeons are twiddling their thumbs because patients can’t get the clearance to enter hospitals.

In both the airline and cancer treatment settings understanding the prevalence of the virus in the staff is the key to achieving Covid-free environments. The saliva solution is ready and waiting – if Government really wants to have a “world-beating” testing system, then just embrace it.

‘Scientists are providing answers but, for reasons unknown, ministers seem unwilling to embrace them’