Free lateral flow tests ‘will be axed under Government’s new Living With Covid Strategy’ 

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Free lateral flow tests are set to be scrapped from next month under plans for ‘living with’ the virus, it was suggested today.

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. 

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

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

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

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 today 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.

And recommendations to take lateral flow tests on days five and six of isolation to exit quarantine are also expected to be dropped.

The plans are still being hammered out, with no measures yet set in stone.

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.

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 told the Guardian: ‘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.’

A contingency plan could also be implemented that drives testing back up if a new variant of Covid-19 emerges in the UK.  

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 Boris Johnson piled the pressure on Nicola 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.

Last week a SAGE subcommittee told the Government to consider the ‘unintended consequences’ before lifting all remaining Covid restrictions, and scrapping free lateral flow tests.

The experts claimed abandoning the swabs — which have already cost the taxpayer billions will lead to Covid becoming ‘hidden’ and mask any future outbreaks.  

They argued that scrapping the compulsory isolation period without improving sick pay may force poorer people to go to work even if they are ill and risk spreading the virus to vulnerable.

The warnings were raised at a meeting of the Spi-B behavioural expert committee that feeds into SAGE last Thursday, a day after the Prime Minister revealed he intended to drop all remaining curbs in England within weeks.

About a quarter fewer Covid tests are now being carried out than last week, which may be behind the drop in cases.

But the positivity rate — the proportion of swabs that pick up the virus — is also pointing downwards in England, suggesting it is a real-terms drop rather than one caused by the virus.