MORE regular coronavirus tests for NHS and care home staff in Wales, and for patients in hospitals, are a key part of a new strategy that aims to broaden the scale, speed up, and increase the frequency of testing.

Regular testing could be expanded to workplaces and schools to find cases, while consideration is be given to approaches that might reduce the need for isolation, and help people more safely meet family or friends.

And mass testing programmes, based on those introduced late last year in Covid-19 hotspots Merthyr Tydfil and the lower Cynon Valley, will be developed for other parts of Wales to test asymptomatic people - those without symptoms - to help stop the virus spreading.

Part of a new community testing framework, the testing programmes will be led by health boards and councils, working with Test, Trace and Protect (TTP) partners, and could be launched as early as March in areas where they are deemed appropriate.

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Wales' new coronavirus testing strategy updates that published last summer, to take into account increased understanding of the virus, the development of new testing technology, and the roll-out of the vaccination programme. It focuses on five priority areas:

  • Test to diagnose - testing patients on admission to hospital, patients who develop symptoms while in hospital, asymptomatic inpatients five days after admission, and planned admissions, to protect patients who are at increased risk;
  • Test to safeguard - regular asymptomatic testing for NHS and care home staff, supported living staff, staff working with vulnerable people in special schools, domiciliary care staff, and prison staff;
  • Test to find - continuing to test anyone who thinks they have symptoms, to identify to isolate Covid-19 cases in the community, reduce the transmission of infection, support contact tracing, protect vulnerable individuals, and help to slow or stop the spread of the disease;
  • Test to maintain - regular testing of the workforce in various settings to find cases, and exploring whether testing of asymptomatic contacts could allow people to safely remain at work or schools instead of isolating for 10 days. The Welsh Government is currently piloting and evaluating this approach;
  • Test to enable - considering how testing might work alongside vaccination to enable people with a negative result, or those who demonstrate the required level of antibodies in their system, to travel internationally, attend work or cultural or sporting events, or meet family and friends.

Health minister Vaughan Gething said testing continues to play a "pivotal role" in the overall approach to preventing the transmission of coronavirus across Wales.

“Since the last strategy was published, new testing technologies have demonstrated it is possible to test at far greater scale, frequency and speed than ever before," he said.

"Testing remains important as we roll out the vaccine. Once vaccinated, it is still critical that people continue to follow the guidance and if showing symptoms, get tested."

He added that the revised strategy also looks ahead at "how we can use testing as an appropriate and effective safeguard alongside the vaccine as we return to normality".

The community testing framework meanwhile, sets out how health boards and councils, working with TTP partners and the charitable and voluntary sectors, can develop locally focused mass testing programmes,based on the testing strategy's Test to Find priority focus.

Such programmes would seek to test people who are infected and potentially infectious, but who are asymptomatic and unaware that they might be spreading the disease. This would enable their contacts to be traced and supported to isolate and prevent passing coronavirus to others.

Initial evaluation of the programmes in Merthyr Tydfil (November-December) and the lower Cynon Valley (December) concludes there is a role "for targeted community testing using lateral flow tests in more deprived communities, with local businesses and [in] periods and places of temporal increases in incidence" - where coronavirus may flare up - states the Welsh Government guidance on the framework.

Nearly 50,000 tests were carried out in total in these areas during the programmes, and 1,135 people returned positive results.