By Deirdre Tynan • Published: 22 Sep 2021 • 19:00
NHS faces losing 73,000 staff over mandatory Covid jabs Image: Twitter
The first UK-manufactured lateral flow devices or LFDs are being rolled out to universities across England.
The first UK-manufactured rapid tests – otherwise known as lateral flow devices or LFDs – are being rolled out to universities across England.
Produced by Derby manufacturer, SureScreen Diagnostics, the LFD generates a result in under 15 minutes and is officially the first British test to be validated in a laboratory by Public Health England (PHE).
Health and Social Care Secretary, Sajid Javid said, “Whether it’s an F1 company developing ventilators for hospitals, our academics developing lifesaving vaccines or a pioneering manufacturer producing lateral flow tests, British innovation and ingenuity has been everywhere you look during this pandemic.
“Our testing programme has already helped us reclaim many of our lost freedoms and it will continue to be at the heart of our efforts, through the Winter Plan, to keep this disease at bay in the colder months to come,” he added on September 22.
The rollout of the rapid assisted tests began in universities in August, and is set to help protect thousands of students as the new term approaches. In preparation for their launch, SureScreen tests have been used in certain wider public sector supervised settings in recent months, including prisons and daily contact testing settings.
The company currently has the capacity to manufacture approximately seven million tests per week, with plans to increase this to 14 million per week by the end of December, strengthening the government’s procurement strategy while supporting British innovation.
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Deirdre Tynan is an award-winning journalist who enjoys bringing the best in news reporting to Spain’s largest English-language newspaper, Euro Weekly News. She has previously worked at The Mirror, Ireland on Sunday and for news agencies, media outlets and international organisations in America, Europe and Asia. A huge fan of British politics and newspapers, Deirdre is equally fascinated by the political scene in Madrid and Sevilla. She moved to Spain in 2018 and is based in Jaen.
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