Covid: Derby firm lands deal to make 20m lateral flow tests

The prime minister visited the laboratory as the deal was announced

A firm has been given a government contract to make 20 million rapid lateral flow tests.

Derby-based SureScreen Diagnostics said it was the first British company to have its tests validated in the lab by Public Health England.

The antigen kits can return a result in about 30 minutes, it added.

The government recently announced more companies in England would be given the tests for staff who cannot work from home during lockdown.

Large-scale testing has been deployed in various parts of the UK

Almost all of the early testing for coronavirus was done with polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests, which can take 48 hours to produce results.

They are also highly sensitive, sometimes picking up remnants of the virus from people who are no longer infectious.

Lateral flow tests are faster but much less sensitive.

They are being used to identify more asymptomatic cases to boost the testing programme and reduce transmission.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson visited SureScreen Diagnostics as the deal was announced.

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Earlier Health Secretary Matt Hancock said rapid lateral flow tests "strengthen our national response to the virus significantly, helping us to identify the around one in three people who are asymptomatic and break chains of transmission in our workplaces and communities".

He added: "It is excellent to be working with a UK firm to deliver millions more of these rapid tests."

SureScreen Diagnostics said the deal would create up to 200 jobs at the company and across the wider supply chain.

The tests have also been proven to detect the "Kent" variant of Covid-19, the firm added.

Analysis: Rob Sissons, East Midlands Today health correspondent

The tests can give a result in 30 minutes, allowing for rapid screening

Lateral flow tests are becoming more and more common as they are seen as key to allowing us to get on with our lives during this coronavirus crisis.

In Derbyshire, they set up a number of stations where people could do the lateral flow test and get their results in under an hour.

As of last week, there had been 21,838 tests carried out, of which 304 positive tests were found.

That might seem a small percentage, but each case can be stopped in its tracks if people do the right thing after getting a positive result.

With new variants of this disease being more infectious, these tests are a way to put out the small fires, before they become big ones and cause more suffering and deaths.