Row over plans to scrap free lateral flow tests next month

Backlash over plans to scrap free lateral flow tests next month as Scotland and Wales they CONTINUE despite costing NHS £9BILLION a year – as Britons scramble to order them while they still can

  • Free tests could be axed as early as next month to save billions from eye-watering NHS Test and Trace budget 
  • SNP leapt on reports to demand funding continues in Scotland, accusing PM of ‘appeasing backbenchers’
  • Divisions in government over the issue, with health officials concerned it could damage ‘test to treat’ strategy

A backlash erupted today over plans to axe free lateral flow tests – as Scotland and Wales called on the policy to continue despite costing the NHS £9billion a year. 

Sources have suggested free tests could be axed as early as next month, while the Department of Health confirmed the provision of free tests is being kept under review. 

Nicola Sturgeon’s health spokesman, Martyn Day, last night insisted Mr Johnson must not impose changes to ‘appease Tory backbenchers’ and any decisions should be backed by medical advice.

Meanwhile, Mark Drakeford has said his government is ‘well placed’ to continue to provide tests in Wales and demanded the four devolved nations be consulted before any decision is made in Westminster. 

Today, social media users urged their fellow Brits to order the free tests ‘while you still can’.  

Meanwhile, the SNP’s health spokesman, Martyn Day, said: ‘The UK Government must confirm that it will continue to fund Covid-19 testing for devolved nations – after the confusion caused by Boris Johnson and his Tory ministers.

‘Any changes to Covid testing must be guided by expert public health advice through the chief medical officers.’

The push comes as the Prime Minister and one of his ministers dodged questions on the issue.

During a visit to Scotland yesterday, Mr Johnson said: ‘On testing, which is important, we’ll make sure we continue to work with our colleagues in Scotland.’

When pushed, the Prime Minister added: ‘We’ll continue to work with our colleagues in Scotland but I believe the similarities in our approach vastly outweigh the differences.’   

Nicola Sturgeon’s health spokesman has urged Boris Johnson to continue funding for free lateral flow tests in Scotland 

Britain’s daily Covid cases fell for the 13th day in a row today, while hospitalisations and deaths also continued to trend downwards as the Omicron wave subsides.

Government dashboard data shows another 41,648 infections were officially recorded over the last 24 hours, down 28 per cent on last Monday. Cases have fallen week-on-week on every day since February 1.

The UK is now recording about 55,500 Covid cases every day, on average, which is about the same level as in mid-December when Omicron was just starting to take off.

There were also a further 35 deaths recorded today, marking a 22 per cent fall in a week. But virus deaths are usually artificially lower on Mondays due to NHS recording lags.

The seven-day average number of deaths now sits at 178 — almost four times lower than this time last year, before vaccines were widely available.

Latest hospital data also shows there were 1,413 admissions on February 8, down 17 per cent on a week beforehand.

The tumbling statistics come as ministers use the Parliamentary recess to draft their strategy to learn to ‘live with Covid’ like flu, which is due to be unveiled on February 21.

 

Scotland Office minister, Iain Stewart, told the BBC: ‘What we’ve said is that next week, if the figures and Covid continue the way they are, we’ll be setting out a comprehensive plan on what living with Covid in a normal sense looks like, but I am not sighted on what might be in that.’

He added that there continue to be ‘regular meetings several times a week’ between the UK Government and the devolved administrations on the Covid response.

Sage, the independent group of advisers who have been counselling the Government throughout the pandemic, cautioned against removing free testing.

The group said getting rid of free testing would make it harder for people to take precautions and ‘may also increase anxiety among those who have found testing reassuring after possible exposure, particularly those who are, or live with, someone who is clinically vulnerable’.

‘Some people may also take the removal of free and accessible testing as a signal that they should continue to attend workplaces/social gatherings while showing Covid-19 symptoms, as these become conflated with other symptoms of respiratory illness such as influenza,’ the group added.

Ministers had initially planned to keep handing out the swabs until July, before only making them available to care homes, the NHS and schools.

But Whitehall sources say they could now be dropped three months earlier amid a drive to slash Covid spending to a tenth of current levels. 

In the first year of the Test and Trace programme, from April 2020 to April 2021, £9billion of the total £22billion spent went towards rapid lateral flow tests, according to calculations by the Financial Times. 

Free PCR tests could also be abandoned from March 31, but will remain available in hospitals and to the country’s 1million most vulnerable.

Contact tracing from Test and Trace asking contacts of a Covid case to self-isolate is also set to come to an end.

Mr Johnson is currently hammering out the UK’s ‘living with’ the virus strategy, which is set to be announced next Monday on February 21.

Sources have suggested free tests could be axed by the PM as early as next month in a bid to save billions from the eye-watering NHS Test and Trace budget 

Northern Ireland AXES all remaining Covid laws and will replace them with ‘guidance’ from midnight 

By Olivia Devereux-Evans for MailOnline  

Northern Ireland has axed all remaining Covid laws and will replace them with ‘guidance’ from midnight, Health Minister Robin Swann announced. But he urged the public not to ‘jump the gun’, warning that the pandemic is ‘not over.

It comes after advice from the chief medical officer in Northern Ireland, Sir Michael McBride. Stormont ministers had earlier given their ‘unanimous support’ to Mr Swann to ease Covid restrictions in Northern Ireland, according to Michelle O’Neil, Sinn Fein’s leader in Stormont.

Last week Mr Swann, who has himself tested positive for Covid, was advised on the potential legal implications of him replacing regulations with guidance, without the wider endorsement of an executive. Mr Swann wrote to other ministers asking for their input and asked for them to respond by today.

Present Covid-19 regulations in Northern Ireland were not due to expire until March 24 but were reviewed by the executive every three weeks previously. However, Northern Ireland currently has no functioning executive after the DUP removed Paul Givan as first minister, as part of a protest against the Northern Ireland Protocol.

Mr Swann was considering whether removing restrictions in Northern Ireland would cut across the responsibilities of any other ministers.  

The Prime Minister has already announced the end of self-isolation, but other measures are also expected to go amid a drive to cut spending from £15billion to £1.5billion.

No10 sources said no ‘final decision’ on Covid testing has been made, and that it will come to an end ‘at the right moment’.

Covid testing has formed the backbone of the UK’s strategy for fighting the pandemic, allowing people to check whether they have the virus and if they need to self-isolate.

It was ramped up under ‘Operation Moonshot’, which saw ministers make swabs widely available across the country.

But it saw the UK spend more than £6billion on lateral flow tests alone — with a pack of seven swabs costing around £20. 

It is not clear how much was spent on PCR swabs. 

Under plans to ‘live with’ Covid, Whitehall sources told the Guardian that ministers are now looking to wind down systems set up at the height of the pandemic. 

Advice to get Covid tests regularly for those who are asymptomatic is set to be dropped, they said.

The Prime Minister is set to attend a ‘Quad’ meeting today with senior Cabinet ministers to discuss the proposals.

They will then be put to the UK’s four chief medical officers tomorrow, and finalised on Friday.

A ‘Covid-O’ operations committee meeting will also take place on Sunday to make any final tweaks to the measures.

Mr Johnson is expected to announce plans for ‘living with’ the virus on Monday — February 21 —  when Parliament returns from recess.

He has already announced plans to drop Covid self-isolation next week, a month earlier than the previous plan to let it lapse on March 24.

 

Buckingham Palace STILL refuses to say if the Queen has Covid amid mounting fears 

By Mark Duell for MailOnline

Buckingham Palace again refused to say today whether the Queen has Covid amid mounting fears after Camilla joined Charles in testing positive for the virus. Royal sources said Camilla, 74, has been triple vaccinated, adding that Clarence House will continue to follow government guidelines and review her engagements.

Camilla and Charles, 73, are both now self-isolating, but Buckingham Palace officials said they would ‘not be providing a running commentary’ on the Queen’s health. Royal officials confirmed last week that the Queen had no symptoms, and told MailOnline today that they had ‘nothing to add’ to this after Camilla’s positive test.

Camilla has caught the virus for the first time but Charles contracted it for a second time. She carried out engagements last Thursday – the day Charles tested positive. A Clarence House spokesman said: ‘The Duchess of Cornwall has tested positive for Covid-19 and is self-isolating. We continue to follow government guidelines.’ 

And Mr Johnson said other measures could also be lifted should England’s daily figures continue to head in the right direction.

Yesterday Covid cases dropped for the 13th day in a row, after 41,648 were recorded. 

There were also a further 35 deaths recorded today, marking a 22 per cent fall in a week. 

Latest hospital data also showed there were 1,413 admissions on February 8, down 17 per cent on a week beforehand. 

Asked yesterday if he was planning to scrap free PCR tests, the Prime Minister said: ‘We’ll continue to work with our colleagues in Scotland but I believe the similarities in our approach vastly outweigh the differences’.

A No10 spokesman said: ‘We haven’t made any final decisions on the future of testing.

‘We have said free testing will come to an end at the right moment. 

‘Those decisions need to be made this week in terms of exactly when that time is, what comes to an end and what is retained.

‘All of that will be considered and we will set it out in the strategy. We will retain the ability to monitor coronavirus as we do other viruses.’

Government health officials are concerned that dumping free Covid tests will undermine the UK’s ‘test to treat’ strategy.

This sees the most vulnerable people who test positive for Covid offered antiviral drugs — molnupiravir and paxlovid — to kill off an infection.

A Whitehall source said Covid antivirals were one of the main tools for ‘learning to live with’ Covid. 

They added: ‘If [the Treasury] basically put this trial in the bin, it’s very short-sighted.’  

Doubt over Covid jabs for primary school pupils as announcement over rollout is delayed again 

A decision over whether five to 11-year-olds will get the jab was mired in confusion last night as an announcement over the rollout was postponed again.

Government advisers are said to have recommended offering the vaccine to all healthy children in this group on a ‘non-urgent’ basis. The UK Health Security Agency was set to announce the decision last Friday but stalled at the last minute and rescheduled for yesterday.

However, that also failed to go ahead amid growing speculation ministers may overrule the move. A decision could now be postponed until next Monday, when Boris Johnson is expected to outline his long-term strategy for Covid and end all restrictions.

Sources said there was some concern that offering the jab to these ages could be seen to conflict with the wider message that the pandemic is over in England and it is safe to return to normal life.

Contingency plans are also likely to be included to ensure testing can be ramped back up if a new Covid variant emerges, the Times reports. 

However the plans are still in ‘live discussion’ among ministers and final decisions about the strategy are yet to be made, a source told The Times.    

Last month Professor Iain Buchan, chair in public health at the University of Liverpool who led a trial of lateral flow tests in the city, said Britain’s approach of making the tests freely available for months, unlike many other countries, had been a success, and cautioned against introducing charges for tests.

He warned: ‘Viruses move quicker than free market economics.’

And Professor Jason Leitch, Scotland’s national clinical director, said it is ‘too early’ to decide whether free lateral flow tests can come to an end. 

Earlier this month Mr Johnson piled the pressure on Ms Sturgeon and Mark Drakeford to scrap the last remaining Covid curbs after the Prime Minister dramatically announced his intention to axe all virus restrictions in England by the end of the month.  

Responding to the reports, a spokesman for the Department of Health said: ‘We’ve previously set out that we’ll keep the provision of free testing under review as the government’s response to COVID-19 changes.

‘No decisions have been made on the provision of free testing. Everyone can continue to get free tests and we are continuing to encourage people to use rapid tests when they need them.

‘Testing continues to play an important role in helping people live their day to day lives, keep businesses running and keep young people in school.’   

Source: Read Full Article

Previous post Big change to Covid rules in France TODAY that could ruin your holiday
Next post Dr. Dre Says NFL Had ‘No Problem’ With Eminem Kneeling at Super Bowl Halftime Show