Covid Q&A: How do I get a lateral flow test in Wales?

Students were given lateral flow tests before Christmas to help curb them taking Covid back home

Anyone who cannot work from home and all secondary school pupils in Wales are being offered free rapid Covid home testing kits.

The lateral flow tests do not need to be sent to a lab - the result is within 30 minutes.

They are for individuals who have no Covid symptoms, and picks up about 77% of those with the infection, according to researchers.

So how do you take a test - and where do you get them?

Taking the test:

You need to use a swab to take a sample from the back of your throat and from your nose.

Once you have taken the sample, you dip the swab into an extraction solution and then onto the lateral flow test's paper pad.

You will see the result on the device 30 minutes after you have applied the sample. There is no need to send the sample to a lab.

Can I get a test?

The Welsh government has announced it is expanding rapid home testing across Wales, to include all those who cannot work at home and all secondary school pupils, from Year 7 and above.

Schemes are already in place for some workplaces, childcare settings, schools, colleges and universities.

Businesses have been able to access the rapid tests January.

Packs of lateral flow tests are being available to those who do not work at home

This regular asymptomatic testing in private and public sector workplaces focuses on workplaces:

• with higher exposure to risk

• which involve close proximity to others

• which employ more than 50 people who cannot work from home

• that deliver and maintain key services for the public

The Welsh government said it is testing in workplaces like "public sector organisations such as the police, fire and rescue and different sectors in the private sector including supermarkets, food processing, manufacturing and construction".

Where can I get them?

The rapid coronavirus testing kits will be available to collect from local test sites across Wales from Friday, 16 April.

The Welsh Government said it is also looking at other collection venues for test kits to be made available, as well as the possibility that they be send directly people's homes.

At most testing sites people will be able to collect the rapid lateral flow tests between 08:00 and 13:00, and will not need to make appointment to do so.

Sites will close for a deep clean and re-open for symptomatic PCR testing between 14:00 and 20:00 each day.

How effective are they?

As many as one-in-three people may have Covid without displaying symptoms, described as being asymptomatic.

Health officials stress testing is an important means to keep people safe as restrictions are gradually eased.

There have been questions over just how effective lateral flow tests might be.

But prominent scientists - including at Oxford University and Public Health England - have insisted the tests are both "accurate and sensitive" enough to be used in the community with asymptomatic individuals.

The tests do have limitations: They may not detect very low levels of the virus, unlike PCR Covid tests checked in a laboratory.

This means if you have only recently been infected, are in the incubation period, or if you have mostly recovered, the rapid test may not give a positive result.

Test sensitivity - or how often a lateral flow kit will give a positive test result for someone with Covid-19 - can be affected by how the test is taken by an individual, and can improve with training to ensure more accurate results.

There were 58 positive lateral flow tests out of more than 52,000 people tested in Wales last week

More than 52,000 people were given lateral flow tests in the most recent week in Wales with 58 tests came back positive - that's 0.1% of tests. This is a fall on the proportion of positive tests compared to the previous week - when it was 0.13%, based on 71 positive tests.

The largest number of lateral flow tests was in north Wales - 38% of the Welsh total - but only 20 results were positive, according to Public Health Wales.

How much does it all cost and who is paying?

The lateral flow tests are being provided to individuals at no charge.

The Welsh government says the tests being used in Wales are part of its UK allocation of rapid test kits, which have been paid for by the UK government.

The UK government has said the tests are part of its NHS test and trace funding of £37bn over two years, with 80% of that money expected to be used for testing, according to UK Health Minister Edward Argar.

What do politicians say?

Health Minister Vaughan Gething said it is "important that testing is made as convenient and accessible as possible" because as Wales eases lockdown restrictions "routine testing of asymptomatic people will be imperative in our battle against the virus".

"We know that up to one in three people who have coronavirus have no symptoms at all and can therefore spread it unknowingly," he said.

Plaid Cymru said the wider rollout of the tests is a "positive step" but "has to work in tandem with financial support for those self-isolating".

Welsh Conservatives said they were "pleased Labour ministers have followed the action taken by the UK Conservative government", and said the priority was to deliver its "comprehensive and cautious" Covid roadmap for recovery.

Welsh Liberal Democrat leader Jane Dodds said the free tests were a "welcome development" for those working in shops, restaurants and schools and would "help us safely reopen our country and economy".