Last minute scramble to get a lateral flow test for New Year’s Eve

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Britons are scrambling to find lateral flow tests to save their New Year’s Eve celebrations as millions of households run low or run out completely due to a national scarcity caused by the Omicron explosion.

People have been travelling from pharmacy to pharmacy to find rapid tests – and waiting in queues around the block to grab them – after the Government’s website again suffered chronic shortages.

One test hunter tweeted: ‘Trying to get hold of a lateral flow test at the moment is like Race Across the World. Dashing madly from location to location, and keep bumping into the same people, on the same mission’.

Another wrote: ‘Feel like @Schwarzenegger trying to find turbo man, only it’s lateral flow test kits. Everywhere all gone’ – a nod to the Terminator star’s 1996 Christmas hit movie, Jingle All The Way.  

Some lucky enough to have enough tests – and be covid-free – posted images of their results with bottles of Prosecco at the ready.  Others have admitted that a lack of tests won’t put them off going out, telling Boris Johnson to ‘stick them up his a***’.

Boris Johnson has urged anyone seeing friends or family this evening to test beforehand despite kits being increasingly hard to come by.

It has led to a rush of people trying to find them in their communities – or borrow them from neighbours – to ensure they see are Covid-free as they see in 2022. 

The already wounded pubs, bars, restaurants and clubs of England say the Prime Minister’s advice has already shattered their businesses. Some have started offering people lateral flows outside to bring in more customers on what should be the busiest night of the year. 

Supplies of Covid tests are likely to be rationed over the next fortnight as health officials struggle to cope with ‘huge demand’, Sajid Javid has admitted.

The health secretary warned in a letter to MPs that tests will need to be prioritised for ‘vulnerable groups’, such as care home residents and staff.

But there are fears the supply problems could hit the economy if workers are unable to get the tests they need to leave quarantine early.

Medical unions revealed doctors and nurses are among those struggling to access tests as they called for them to be pushed to the front of the queue in a bid to avert an NHS staffing crisis.

The government website was not taking orders for home deliveries of lateral flow tests for most of Wednesday and there was no availability yesterday morning [THU]. Online ordering was back up and running last night.

Pharmacies have also complained about patchy supplies.

Ministers are now scrambling to secure tests from around the world as they battle an ‘unprecedented’ surge in demand caused by a rise in infections and a change in self-isolation rules.

The shortage of rapid Covid tests threatens to turn New Year’s Eve celebrations into super-spreading events, an expert has warned.

Professor Peter Openshaw, who sits on the New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group (Nervtag), said it is ‘very worrying’ that some people will be unable to check if they are infectious before attending a party this evening.

Conditions at such events are ‘perfect’ for spreading the virus, he added.

Professor Openshaw told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘I think it’s very worrying indeed.

‘We know the situations in which transmission happens and fortunately I don’t think we are facing the sort of lockdown that was necessary in order to cope in the very earliest part of this year.

‘But we do know that crowding together in poorly ventilated spaces, particularly if you are shouting over loud music and so on, is absolutely perfect in terms of transmitting this very, very highly transmissible virus.’

Mr Javid plans to use 900million lateral flow devices (LFDs) this winter in an attempt to keep the virus under control, staff in work and businesses open.

The UK Health Security Agency doubled deliveries of LFDs from 120million to almost 300million in December.

And the government will triple supplies for January and February from an anticipated 100million to 300million per month.

Mr Javid told MPs: ‘The arrival of the omicron variant has caused record case numbers and unprecedented demand for both PCR and Lateral Flow Device (LFD) tests.

‘This has inevitably placed strain on the testing system, despite the impressive scaling-up of supply, logistics and laboratory capacity. Other countries have faced similar challenges.’

He added: ‘We are constantly reviewing system performance and ways to maximise its response to the demand for tests.

‘However, in light of the huge demand for LFDs seen over the last three weeks, we expect to need to constrain the system at certain points over the next two weeks to manage supply over the course of each day, with new tranches of supply released regularly throughout each day.

‘We will continue making tests available to everyone who needs them, particularly vulnerable groups such as care home residents and those who work in critical sectors such as the care workforce.’

The UK Health Security Agency has previously stressed there was no issue with supply, instead blaming logistical problems, including difficulties shipping so many tests from its warehouses.

But outlining plans for the months ahead, Mr Javid said: ‘To respond to anticipated demand over the coming few weeks we are buying hundreds of millions more LFD tests, bringing new products on board and accelerating their deployment to the public.

‘We are also doubling our total delivery capacity with Royal Mail to 900,000 test packs and PCR tests a day.

‘We are tripling the supply of LFDs in January and February from our pre-omicron plan of 100 million to 300 million per month.’

Mr Javid said that the Government’s daily PCR capacity had been increased from 530,000 per day in November to 700,000 per day now, excluding those for NHS patients and staff.

He also stressed the UK is providing tests free of charge for people with or without symptoms, unlike many other countries.

‘We are doing more testing per head than any comparable country and we have focused recent communications on encouraging testing before seeing friends and relatives, particularly those who are vulnerable, over the festive period,’ he added.

Frontline NHS staff who are a close contact of a Covid case at home can only work after receiving a negative PCR test and must take a daily LFD for ten days.

But some doctors and nurses have said they cannot get hold of LFDs as they are having to use the same system as the public, leading to a huge increase in staff absences, which threaten patient safety and risk operations being cancelled.

One cancer care worker from London explained she missed several days of work after being unable to access rapid tests via online ordering or pharmacy collection routes – even after identifying as a key worker.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, she told the BBC: ‘This is one of the key reasons why there are absences on the front line.

‘I used to pick up two boxes of 40 tests from work, but now I have to access tests in the same queue as the general public.’ Another NHS worker, based in Cambridgeshire, also confirmed they had been unable to get hold of rapid tests through their hospital ahead of the Christmas period.

The British Medical Association and Royal College of Nursing said healthcare staff should be prioritised.

The Welsh Government has agreed to loan four million more lateral flow tests to the NHS in England, bringing that mutual aid to a total of 10million.

First Minister Mark Drakeford said: ‘Wales has a significant stock of lateral flow tests, sufficient to meet our needs over the weeks ahead.’

Nicola Sturgeon, the Scottish First Minister, said the Scottish Government is now ‘prioritising some slots for essential workers – such as NHS and transport staff – as well as for those who are clinically vulnerable or eligible for new Covid treatments’.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has urged people in England heading out for Christmas or New Year’s Eve festivities to get tested.

And the rules were recently changed to allow people who catch Covid to leave quarantine after seven days, rather than ten, if they test negative on a lateral flow test two days in row.

The UK Health Security Agency said on Wednesday that eight million lateral flow test kits would be made available to pharmacies by today [FRI].

The Department for Health and Social Care said the NHS has ‘additional stock of lateral flow tests’ and stressed people who ‘live or work in vulnerable settings have access to dedicated testing order routes’.

A government spokesperson said: ‘Throughout the pandemic we have prioritised the most vulnerable when it comes to vaccines, boosters, testing and other infection control measures such as PPE.’

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There are over 18,000 staff absent from acute hospital trusts in England either with Covid or because they are self-isolating.

Wes Streeting, Labour’s Shadow Health and Social Care Secretary, has written to Sajid Javid calling for him to prioritise PCR and lateral flow tests for key workers.

He said test shortages are adding to the pressure on the health service as ‘worrying numbers of NHS staff are having to isolate’.

He added: ‘I urge you to put the key workers we have relied upon for the past two years to the front of the queue and do everything you can to prevent a staffing shortage crisis in our NHS.

‘The Government must get a grip on this crisis, bring these shortages to an end, and ensure everyone can access tests quickly and regularly.’

Dr Chaand Nagpaul, chairman of the British Medical Association, said: ‘The rapid spread of the Omicron variant has no doubt had a massive impact on demand for lateral flow test kits and PCR tests, however it is vital that the promised new supply of kits are offered to key workers such as health and social care staff as a priority.

‘Being unable to get the tests means staff may not be legally allowed to work and at a time of acute workforce shortages and winter pressures this could be devastating for the care that can be given right across the NHS.’

And Professor Martin Marshall, chairman of the Royal College of GPs, blasted the shortage of rapid flow tests, saying it is pointless recommending their use if nobody can get one.

He told Times Radio: ‘The Government advice is reasonably clear about what people need to do before they’re allowed to socialise, before they’re allowed to release after self-isolation, but there’s no point in having that advice if as GPs we know we’re no longer able to help patients to actually act on that advice, and that’s a big issue for us.’