Twice weekly rapid testing will now be available to everyone over 18

All Nottinghamshire residents over 18 will be able to access free, rapid lateral flow tests (LFDs) for themselves and their families to use twice a week.

From the 9 April, in line with the government announcement, people aged 18 and over in Nottinghamshire and Nottingham  will be able to collect two boxes of seven  tests per person or four boxes per family from our asymptomatic community testing sites.  People collecting boxes from our community testing sites can also have a supervised test to help ensure that tests done at home are accurate.

People aged 18 and over will also be able to collect the same number of tests from local pharmacies through the Government’s new Pharmacy Collect service.  Local participating pharmacies can be found at  Find a test centre (test-and-trace.nhs.uk)

If testing at home, people will need to register their results online or by calling 119. They should self-isolate if positive and order a confirmatory PCR test.

Rapid testing has until now been available to those most at risk and people who need to leave home for work, including frontline NHS workers, care home staff and residents, and schoolchildren and their families. With rapid testing offered to everyone, people are being encouraged to take regular tests to help prevent outbreaks and get back to a more normal way of life.

Dawn Jenkin, Public Health Consultant at Nottinghamshire County Council said: “The government has expanded its rapid testing programme so that everyone can get themselves tested twice a week. We know that around a third of people with Covid-19 do not experience any symptoms and may be spreading the virus without knowing.

“Rapid testing detects cases quickly, meaning positive cases can isolate straight away. As these rapid tests are being made available to everyone, and if everyone uses them, more cases will be detected, thereby breaking chains of transmission. This will help to suppress and control the spread of the virus and in turn help to reopen society and the economy more safely.”

Regular, rapid testing for people without symptoms remains available through the following existing routes:

• a home ordering service, which allows people to order lateral flow tests online to be delivered to their home
• workplace testing programmes, on-site or at home
• testing on-site at schools and colleges.

Anyone with symptoms of Covid-19 should book a test online or by calling 119.