Covid: Leicestershire hit by testing kit shortage

The council said its orders had not been met in recent weeks

Community centres and mobile testing vans in Leicestershire have had to halt the distribution of Covid tests after the government failed to meet orders.

The county council said it had been forced to stop supplying lateral flow tests (LFT) for testing teams as it had not been receiving the kits.

The UK Health Security Agency said "temporary pauses" of deliveries were possible during periods of high demand.

It advised people to keep checking the government website.

'Supply issues'

The rising number of Covid cases, fuelled by the Omicron variant, is putting pressure on testing provision across the country.

A Leicestershire County Council spokesperson told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: "Like other organisations, Leicestershire County Council is reliant on the government to supply it with LFT kits.

"In recent weeks the council's orders of new testing kits have not been met and that has affected distribution at a time when demand is very high.

"We have previously been making LFT kits available to residents at our libraries, community centres and through our mobile testing vans.

"We are grateful so many people have taken up that option but at the moment the supply issues have meant we have not been able to continue that offering."

'Changing requirements'

A spokesperson for the UK Health Security Agency said: "We are delivering record numbers of lateral flow tests to pharmacies across the country, with nearly eight million test kits being made available to pharmacies this week alone.

"During periods of exceptional demand there may be temporary pauses in ordering or receiving tests, to ensure we manage distribution across the system and support changing requirements."

Meanwhile Leicester City Council said it still had supplies of LFTs.

Laura French, acting consultant in public health, said: "Demand for [lateral flow] testing kits has been high over the festive period, but pharmacies in Leicester are taking delivery of new stock each day, so people should be able to find testing kits locally."