Daily test sites will not all be operating until end of August

JUST 10 per cent of the daily testing sites that were meant to end the “pingdemic” are up and running, it has emerged, with the Government confirming the rollout might not be completed until the end of next month.

After more than doubling the number of sites to 2,000 earlier this week to prevent widespread disruption to critical sectors, the Department of Health yesterday confirmed that just 200 are believed to have started testing.

The testing sites allow workers, including supermarket depot staff, police officers, border force as well as train and lorry drivers identified as Covid-19 contacts to take daily lateral flow tests to avoid self-isolation, providing they test negative.

It is hoped that a further 600 will be ready by the end of the week, although the department has refused to provide a guarantee, with the speed of the rollout dependent on firms taking up the offer. On the remaining 1,200 sites, which were allocated on Monday, the Government has said only that it expects these to be in operation by the end of August.

It suggests that many sites could still not be fully operational by Aug 16, when self-isolation rules are due to be relaxed for all double-vaccinated people, calling into question the benefit of continuing the rollout of sites beyond this date.

The timetable has been branded “absurd” by senior Tory MPS, and has prompted calls for Boris Johnson to bring forward the date for relaxing selfisolation rules for the fully vaccinated.

Government sources insisted that it was logistically impossible to rollout thousands of testing sites overnight. They also said that after Aug 16 they would ensure that critical workers who had not been fully vaccinated could stay in work by using lateral flow tests.

Sajid Javid, the Health Secretary, yesterday confirmed that as part of the relaxation on Aug 16, families will not have to self-isolate if someone in their household tests positive unless they have symptoms.

Richard Walker, the managing director of the supermarket chain Iceland, said the process of signing up to testing sites was “really bureaucratic” and suggested the company could simply wait until Aug 16.

“There’s a lot of red tape in getting these testing centres set up, it’s a nightmare,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today.

John Foster, of the Confederation of British Industry, said: “The simplest way to end the pingdemic is by bringing forward the date by which those that have been double jabbed no longer have to self-isolate, if not infectious.

“August 16 looks a long way away to any business that is seeing their staff asked to self-isolate, left, right and centre.”

‘August 16 looks a long way away to any business that is seeing staff asked to selfisolate, left, right and centre’