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Anyone living with school-age children in England will be entitled to two rapid coronavirus tests a week when students return to the classroom, the government said.
All high school and college students will be screened twice a week when they return March 8according to the prime minister roadmap out of the blockade.
But now the ministers promise everyone in their household to get swabs twice a week as well.
The new measures apply to anyone in a supportive household or bubble with a child or young person attending university, primary or secondary school in England, the Department of Health and Social Care said.
Coronavirus Tests for family members will be available at 500 pickup locations across the country, at existing local testing sites, or at the schematics at their work sites.
Boris Johnson visited the testing facility at a school in South London earlier this week.
The government says that as lockdown restrictions ease with the return of schools and more social mixing in March, rapid, asymptomatic tests will help maintain COVID-19 rates down while vaccines are being implemented.
Education Secretary Gavin Williamson said: “Testing family members will provide another layer of reassurance to parents and education staff that schools are as safe as possible, based on the massive increase in testing for high school and college students, and strengthening requirements around face coverings in areas where social distancing cannot be maintained. “
Public Health England Medical Director Dr Yvonne Doyle also urged people to accept the offer, saying: “I would encourage all eligible households to accept the rapid testing offer twice a week – it’s quick and painless and it could help save lives. “
Primary school children will not be screened once they return en masse to England, as scientists say there is no evidence of high transmission of the virus among such young age groups.
But although the government is promoting the use of rapid lateral flow tests (LFTs), some experts claim that they are insensitive and may be ineffective.
Earlier, public health expert Professor Robert Dingwall claimed that LFTs were “pretty useless.”
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“These massive tests bypass people with early infections, so they are not really any kind of solution,” Professor Dingwall told Sky News.
“The government has bought a lot of these tests and something has to be done with them.”
Some studies have suggested that rapid tests do not detect cases, while others claim that their sensitivity, compared to traditional laboratory tests, may offer information on whether infections are increasing or falling into a particular area.
