Lateral flow tests are to be ‘constrained’ over next two weeks, the Health Secretary has announced
In a letter sent to MPs on Wednesday evening, Javid said that there intense strain being put on the system as cases of the Omicron variant continue to increase, with 183,037 new infections recorded on Wednesday.
He wrote:
In light of the huge demand for LFDs seen over the last three weeks, we expect to need to constrain the system at certain points over the next two weeks to manage supply over the course of each day, with new tranches of supply released regularly throughout each day.
Health officials say that eight million lateral flow kits will be sent to pharmacies before New Year’s Eve as the Government continues to advise people to test themselves before mixing over New Year.
Labour has accused the government of presiding over a “shambles”, with many members of the public struggling to obtain tests despite ministers putting testing at the centre of efforts to control the spread of Omicron.
