UK-Rapid Test Consortium claims the CE marked, professional-use test is 99.4% accurate and plans to produce 500,000 tests a month from October and one million a month starting in 2021.

While COVID-19 testing capacity rises slowly the in UK, the scientific community is pressing to develop the range of test types to get the numbers up further to secure sustainable control of the disease.  

The COVID-19 antibody tests that so far have gone through the validation process have not proven accurate enough to be rolled out for public use, says the UK. A new rapid test consortium is working on a solution.

UK parliament’s indecision over how – or if – to enact Brexit saw the planned March 29 withdrawal deadline come and go. The default positions of the inter-ministerial Office for Lifesciences (OLS) and health-care products regulator (MHRA) are still to prepare for a no-deal exit from the EU.