These extract are taken from Diabetes UK’s FAQs following the Government’s “Living with Covid” plan
From 1 April:
• Free universal PCR and lateral flow testing for the general public in England will end – there will be limited free symptomatic testing for a small number of at-risk groups but we are still waiting for details of the criteria to be included in this. Free symptomatic testing will also remain available for social care staff
• Social-distancing guidelines will be updated to align with the changes in testing
• The current ‘Working Safely’ guidance will be replaced with new consolidated guidance to the public and businesses - the health and safety requirement for every employer to explicitly consider COVID 19 in their risk assessments will be removed for all settings except those that specifically work with COVID-19 like laboratories
• The government in Scotland have announced that they want to keep free lateral flow testing after this date but haven’t confirmed how long for and this will depend on what plans are made in Westminster due to funding arrangements in the devolved nations
What are the Government’s reasons for making these changes now?
The number of cases, hospitalisations and deaths due to COVID-19 continue to decline and the Government feel that we have much stronger protection against COVID-19 nowthan at any other point in the pandemic.
This is due to the risk of severe illness from the Omicron being lower compared to earlier variants, the vaccination programme and strong protection offered by the booster campaign, natural immunity after infection, access to antiviraltreatments to avoid severe illness and hospitalisation, and increased scientific and public understanding about how to manage risk.
The Government also say that the current testing and tracing strategy is very expensive – the Test, Trace and Isolate budget was more than the whole budget for the Home Office in 2020/21 for example – so they want to find a more sustainable way of managing it.
For these reasons, the Government now say it’s time to focus the COVID-19 response towards guidance instead of legal requirements while targeting protection on people who are most at risk from the virus.
What measures are being put in place for people who are at higher risk of COVID-19 in the new plan?
Access to free testing
We know that free symptomatic testing that will remain available to some people at higher risk and social care staff after 1st April. However, we don’t know who will be classed as being “at higher risk” until the Government releases further details.
With universal free testing ending, Office of National Statistics (ONS) will continue to track infections and put in place targeted regional responses where needed. The ONS have been tracking the spread of infections through the COVID-19 Infection Survey.
