Asked by
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to introduce
mass testing of the population using the COVID-19 polymerase
chain reaction test; and what role any such plans will have in
the lifting of restrictions in place to address the COVID-19
pandemic.
The Question was considered in a Virtual Proceeding via video
call.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health
and Social Care ()
(Con)
My Lords, testing is a critical part of the Government’s test and
trace programme. It will enable the UK to start to come out of
some elements of lockdown. We salute the efforts and innovation
of our NHS, public health and private sector partners. Their hard
work will bring forward the easing of important restrictions that
keep people safe and protect our NHS.
(CB)
My Lords, public health specialists have been worried from the
beginning of this crisis that a large-scale nationwide test,
trace and isolate infrastructure was not straightaway put in
place. I did not hear the word “isolate” in the Minister’s reply.
Will the Government yet set this up, perhaps headed by an
independent epidemiologist? To that end, will they address the
concern that commercial lab test results are not reaching
councils and the local NHS so that proper action can be taken to
isolate and eradicate this virus across all communities before
lockdown is substantially eased?
My Lords, I pay tribute to Public Health England, which stood up
the CTAS system that provided track and trace services at the
beginning of the epidemic. I pay tribute to Dido Harding, the
track and trace director whose appointment was announced earlier
this week. I pay tribute to , who provides
scientific guidance and co-ordination for the track and trace
programme.
(Lab)
My Lords, we have seen from the Covid outbreak at a nightclub in
South Korea that speed is of the essence in ensuring an effective
test, trace and isolate strategy. However, given the limited
availability of test kits and the fact that it can take three to
four days to process them, and in the light of the fact that what
the Government called “operational issues” led last week to
50,000 tests being sent for analysis to the US, can we really be
confident that the tests can produce sufficiently timely
information to form the basis for a test, trace and isolate
strategy?
The noble Lord is entirely right. Speed is essential and the
South Korea example is a good one. More than half of our tests
are turned around within 24 hours. I pay tribute to the track and
trace team, who handled an extremely complex and difficult
laboratory failure last weekend and used innovation to turn
around 50,000 tests, the results of which were reliably given to
people. However, we will continue to work on shortening the
result times and getting the information back speedily so that
isolation can happen in a thorough way.
(LD)
What is the average time between a swab being taken and a patient
getting the result, and what is the average time for that test
result to show up in national tracking data?
The average times are not at my disposal, but I reassure the
noble Baroness that more than half the results are turned around
within 24 hours. Our target time is currently 48 hours and the
vast majority of tests are done within that time. As the noble
Lord, Lord Wood, rightly said, speed is of the essence, and we
are working hard to compress those times.
(Con)
My Lords, testing and tracking are vital in working towards the
lifting of restrictions. Can the Minister therefore consider
looking at encouraging people to keep a daily diary on everyone
they meet, wherever they go outside their home? Should they fall
ill with Covid-19, that would provide a simple, easy way to trace
the source of further testing?
My noble friend Lady Rawlings is entirely right: we all have an
important role to play. There is good evidence that personal
tracing by individuals of contacts within their networks has a
powerful role to play in isolating those who might have been in
contact with the virus. Defeating this virus will be the
responsibility of everyone in the community; we cannot rely just
on digital apps and central databases.
(CB)
My Lords, what evidence do the Government use to calculate the
value of R0?
The noble Lord will know that we have set up one of the most
ambitious surveys, conducted by the ONS, to study on a weekly
basis a large number of viral and serological tests. Those are
used by statisticians to understand both the prevalence and the
spread of the disease. Figures for that are emerging—we now have
three weeks-worth of figures. They are being published regularly
and I would be glad to send the noble Lord a link to the relevant
data.
(Lab)
My question is relevant to what has been in the news today
concerning antibody testing. PCR testing is the most reliable but
most resource-intensive test. Will it ever be sufficiently
scalable for widespread regular testing of all key workers and to
track clusters of reinfection? Are the Government investigating
the potential of increasing the reliability of antibody testing
by double testing? Now that a range of tests is being
manufactured globally, will the Government publish their
assessment of their relative efficacy in testing the two relevant
antibodies?
The noble Baroness is entirely right. PCR testing is an important
guide as to who has the virus, and we have made it available to
all key workers who exhibit symptoms. However, we are sceptical
of whole-population surveys. Double testing might help if there
is damage to serological equipment, but the challenges of
serological testing are more to do with the blood, and
unfortunately people do not change their blood. We are very proud
of British universities, which regularly publish assessments of
the various serological approaches. That work is under way and
continues, and we hope to make more progress on it in the months
ahead.
(LD)
My Lords, all the evidence shows that BME communities are
suffering disproportionately more from Covid-19. Many of them
work on the front line as doctors, nurses, care workers,
cleaners, porters and hospital security staff, who deal directly
with difficult people. Can the Minister assure the House that
these front-line staff will be prioritised and tested frequently
for Covid-19? In asking this question, I declare an interest, as
a close family member works in hospital security.
My Lords, I pay tribute to those BME workers on the front line.
There is no doubt that their courage and bravery in the face of
heightened risk is one of the things that has kept the NHS and
our care service working and we owe them a huge debt. That debt
will be paid by providing testing for anyone who needs it. To
answer the noble Lord’s specific question, we started rolling out
asymptomatic testing throughout the NHS and care service last
week. The results of that will be published by the NHS shortly.
(Non-Afl)
My Lords, the Minister will be aware that, to be effective,
testing in care homes of residents and staff needs to be done
continuously. Can he confirm when this testing system will be
established and then achieved?
Testing in care homes is absolutely a number one priority. We
have massively ramped up testing: we are now running it at 30,000
tests a day. We will test 300,000 care home residents and 500,000
care home staff before mid-June. That will make a massive
difference, but we will not stop there. The ongoing and regular
testing of both residents and staff will be a core part of our
test and trace programme.
(Con)
My Lords, with the encouraging announcement of the ending of
virtual proceedings in the other place and in the hope that we
will not be too far behind, can my noble friend assure me that
adequate, permanent testing facilities will be available for all
who work in the Palace of Westminster and all Members of both
Houses?
My Lords, workplace testing for not just Peers but all workers is
an important part of our return-to-work strategy. We need to work
with employers of all kinds and the diagnostics industry to put
in solutions so that people can go back to work with confidence
that they are not infectious and that the person sitting next to
them is not infected.
(CB)
My Lords, what national policy control mechanisms will be used to
monitor and report on false negatives and false positives as
testing is rolled out to complement a contact tracing app?
I did not hear all the question, but I think I understand what
the noble Baroness is asking. The truth is that, however strong
the sensitivity of the machines, false negatives and false
positives are an inevitable part of the testing process. However,
PHE conducts extremely thorough validation processes so that
these are kept to a minimum and we will use algorithms to ensure
that rogue test results are picked up as soon as possible.
