Rapid Covid tests to be rolled out in Dudley - focusing on contacts of people who have got coronavirus
Rapid Covid tests will focus on the contacts of people who have got coronavirus when they are rolled out in Dudley.
Council leader Patrick Harley said that in the coming days the borough is expected to take delivery of an initial batch of 10,000 tests, which give results in half an hour.
He said they will be used to test people who have been identified as having been in contact with someone who has tested positive with the virus.
It means that rapid tests could be given whole school bubbles who are sent home due to a single Covid case, with those who test negative not needing to self-isolate.
Dudley will receive further batches of testing kits each week, with health chiefs planning to target parts of the borough where the take up for regular testing has been low.
Mr Harley said the testing rate across the borough had gone up by 76 per cent since October, which he said partly explained Dudley's surge in cases.
He said: "With the initial 10,000 kits we are going to use them for contacts of people who have tested positive for Covid.
"Then, rather than have the mass testing that we have seen in Liverpool and now Nottingham, we will do targeted testing in areas where there has previously been a slow take up.
"In Dudley testing has gone up 76 per cent, which is one of the main reasons why the figures have gone through the roof."
Dudley is one of 67 local authority areas to take part in the pilot scheme, which is likely to be pharmacy-led across the borough.
