Britain scrambles to fill Covid-19 testing gap

A dozen universities have developed their own coronavirus testing

The British government is struggling to keep up with an increased demand for Covid-19 tests. Reuters

Universities and firms in the UK are scrambling to develop their own Covid-19 testing facilities as the government struggles to process tests after a surge in coronavirus cases.

With hundreds of thousands of students now returning to campuses around the country, at least 12 universities now have the capacity to determine if someone has contracted Covid-19.

Private tests are also being offered by an array of companies but can cost more than £300.

Questions have been raised over the accuracy and effectiveness of some, w ten minute Covid-19 tests launched by the founders of fashion retailers Boohoo under fire.

The £29.99 saliva test is supposed to show whether people have Covid-19 now or contracted it previously. Experts are sceptical because it is a test for antibodies, which typically take a number of days after infection to develop.

Early trials suggest the test – launched by biotech company Medusa 19 – has a 92 per cent accuracy rate. The UK’s medical regulator MHRA says rapid antigen tests should have 99 per cent specificity while antibody tests should have 98 per cent success rate to be viable.

Boohoo was already under scrutiny after it was alleged that senior directors failed to move quickly enough to deal with concerns about the treatment of factory workers in including health and safety violations.

Britain announced 6,634 new cases on Thursday – the highest daily tally recorded since the pandemic began. While this is partly because testing capacity has increase, young people have also been blamed for failing to adhere to social distancing rules.

The UK has the highest death toll in Europe, with nearly 42,000 confirmed dead.

There are fears that the mass return of students could see a rise in cases with at least 10 reporting outbreaks recently. Glasgow University reported that on Thursday, 172 students tested positive although it conceded the true number was likely higher.

Nottingham University, a member of the elite Russell Group, is among those to set up its own testing facilities.

“We've had a pilot running with vet students they started towards the end of July, we've been weekly testing them and they've been taking their own swabs,” professor Jonathan Ball said.

“We've had a single case that was an asymptomatic person, because of our advice they isolated, their household isolated. We've continued testing three weeks on and we've had no more cases.

“We were able to identify it quickly and potentially stop an outbreak before it started,” he told BBC Radio 4.

University of Exeter has bought thousands of Covid-19 tests from a private company. Deputy vice chancellor Tim Quine highlighted concerns about the pressures of a new semester.

"By bringing students to the region we know we are changing the risk dynamic. We want to make sure we are doing all we cannot to overburden the NHS resources and testing facilities locally,” he said.

The government is targeting 500,000 tests a day by the end of October.