Criteria for testing could be widened

PEOPLE in Wales with symptoms other than a high temperature, cough or loss of taste or smell could also be offered Covid-19 tests in the future, the country’s chief medical officer has said.

Swansea Bay University Health Board has begun offering tests to people with flu-like symptoms, those who are generally feeling unwell and have been in contact with a case of Covid-19, or have a change in symptoms after a previous negative test.

Dr Frank Atherton told a press conference in Cardiff that some symptoms for new variants of coronavirus appeared to be “a bit different to the virus we originally saw here in Wales and in the UK”.

“The classic three symptoms remain the case definition, that’s continually reviewed by chief medical officers,” Dr Atherton said.

“But the widening of the testing criteria does make sense in the current circumstance and that’s something we’re thinking about, not just in Swansea Bay but in other areas as well.

“As our community rates go down, it gives us more ability to cast the net wider and to find residual cases so widening the testing criteria – not changing the case definition but widening the testing criteria – can make sense and can be helpful in bringing rates down even lower.”