DHSC Covid Testing update (Friday 17th June 2022)
At the previous DHSC CAWGS meeting we discussed a plan to pause regular asymptomatic testing across England, including across ASC and the NHS, as part of moving to the next stage of Living with Covid on the basis of falling and relatively low prevalence. This was expected to be announced this week with implementation next week, and thank you to all those who have contributed to discussions and guidance to help us be clear in our messaging.
Recently, we have seen an uptick in cases and evidence from other countries suggests this could be a new short wave. Therefore, a decision has been taken that it would be inappropriate to pause regular asymptomatic testing at this time to give more time to understand the recent rise in cases, what this means and what pressures it creates on our health and social care systems.
We will continue to be guided by public health advice and this decision will be kept under review. We will work with UKHSA to keep interrogating the data and will come back to you when we have a better idea of when it is safe to pause regular asymptomatic testing in the future. Therefore, at this time, we would be grateful if you could keep encouraging the providers and services you represent and support to continue testing alongside other IPC measures such as PPE and good ventilation, and once again, we just wanted to say thank you for all your support in the run up to this announcement.
