Britain on Wednesday approved using a coronavirus self-test kit endorsed by its state-run health service to detect asymptomatic cases, as it mulls further restrictions to stem the spread of a highly infectious variant of the virus, Reuters reports. The government has said it wants to start mass testing people as part of its strategy for tracking and tracing infections with cases spiking and as it battles the new variant. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) said that the kit uses an antigen lateral flow test (antigen LFT), which can give results in 30 minutes. Prime Minister Boris Johnson promised a "world-beating" national test-and-trace system earlier this year, whereby people with symptoms get tested and the contacts of positive patients are asked to self-isolate. But the broader NHS Test and Trace system has been heavily criticized following a series of high-profile failures since its launch earlier this year, and government ministers have conceded it has not performed as well as they had hoped.

Source: The Standard December 23, 2020 14:37 UTC