REDCAR and Cleveland Council leader Mary Lanigan says it plans to widen rapid community testing for coronavirus after the Government confirmed it was on a list of local authorities due to roll out further schemes.

The council had already secured a recent pilot scheme in Grangetown using so-called ‘lateral flow’ tests provided by the Department of Health and Social Care after it gave its approval.

Public Health England scientists have confirmed the quick turnaround tests can detect a new variant of Covid-19 which emerged in London and the south east and is more infectious than the existing strain.

The Government is keen on mass lateral flow tests in local communities as a way of picking up more cases, more quickly, with the focus on people who may have the virus, but aren’t showing any symptoms.

Local councils along with public health officials have been invited to submit local testing plans for consideration.

The hope is that such schemes will help break chains of transmission and mean areas can move out of harsher virus-related controls.

Redcar and Cleveland is – like the rest of the North-East – currently in the Tier Three, or ‘very high’ alert category.

Cllr Lanigan said:“ Our priority throughout the pandemic has been to keep all our residents safe and to restrict the spread of the virus, and we now have the opportunity to widen testing in the community to assist this. 

“Everyone in Redcar and Cleveland has made a huge effort to bring down our infection rate from its height in mid-November and we will now plan the most effective way to continue with this.

“We have real hope of a better 2021 with the roll-out of a vaccine, but we need to get through this extremely challenging period to stay safe and protect the elderly and vulnerable.”

The Grangetown pilot scheme ran at the Grangetown United Community Hub, which is run by the charity Future Regeneration of Grangetown (FROG).

Lynn Pallister, from FROG, who is also a Grangetown ward councillor, said approximately 388 people were tested over four and-a-half days.

She said: “Some thought we would be lucky to get 50 a day with the time of year.

“But it went really well, there was a lot of positive feedback about the staff and the building and how it professional it all was.

“If this is done in another area, and like we did you promote it to get people in, then these schemes should work anywhere.”

Jacob Young, Conservative MP for Redcar, said: “As cases continue to fall across Redcar and Cleveland, community testing will help us identify infected people much quicker, especially those who do not present with symptoms.

“Liverpool was the first UK city to trial this kind of testing and as a result it was also the first area in the UK to successfully move from Tier Three restrictions to Tier Two prior to the most recent national lockdown.”

Health Secretary Matt Hancock said:  “With one in three people infected not showing symptoms, these lateral flow tests will help us route out the virus wherever it is and drive down prevalence in Redcar and Cleveland.”

Simon Clarke, Conservative MP for Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland, said he hoped similar equivalent testing could be secured for Middlesbrough in the days ahead.

Redcar and Cleveland’s seven day rolling case rate in terms of positive coronavirus tests is currently below the national average.

There were 194 recorded cases in the seven days to December 17.