Key questions answered about plans to roll out lateral flow tests across country
The UK government is planning to offer millions of free rapid Covid tests, twice weekly, for everyone in England, to detect more cases, break chains of transmission and save lives.
But experts say the rapid tests being used are unreliable. And focusing on testing, without improving contact-tracing and financial support for self-isolation, is “like pouring water into a bucket which has got a hole in the bottom”, said Prof Stephen Reicher, a member of the Sage subcommittee that advises the government on behavioural science.