Thousands of taxi drivers, cleaners and shop workers will be tested for coronavirus even if they have NO symptoms under government trial
- Department of Health chiefs announced the scheme, which starts tomorrow
- It will take place in Bradford, Oldham as well as Brent and Newham in London
- Workers at businesses such as Addison Lee, Boots, Mitie and BT will get tested
Thousands of taxi drivers, cleaners and shop workers will be tested for Covid-19 as part of a new trial — even if they have no symptoms.
Department of Health chiefs announced the scheme today, revealing it will launch tomorrow in Bradford, Oldham and the London boroughs of Brent and Newham.
It will involve workers in high-risk occupations, and businesses such as Addison Lee, Boots, Mitie and BT.
It comes as a damning investigation today claimed officials ‘buffed’ the coronavirus testing system and the numbers were a ‘total mess’ that didn’t add up.
Thousands of people who work in high-risk occupations, such as taxi drivers, cleaners and shop workers, will be tested for coronavirus as part of a new pilot even though they have no symptoms, the Department of Health has announced
Government data last month showed men working in factories or as security guards are twice as likely to die of coronavirus than healthcare workers.
Office for National Statistics (ONS) data also showed the death rate was higher in 17 different occupations for men, including taxi drivers and shop assistants.
Factory workers have worked throughout the coronavirus crisis to keep the nation fed during lockdown.
And statisticians say they are among the most likely to have been interacting with others when the disease was spreading at its fastest.
Security guards had to be deployed to supermarkets during the outbreak to ensure social distancing was adhered to inside shops and in queues.
This exposed them to hundreds of potential Covid-19 carriers each day, raising their risk of catching the infection.
It comes as figures today showed officials have failed to hit Boris Johnson’s target of giving everyone their coronavirus test results within 24 hours by the end of June.
Just over half of all test results (55 per cent) are received within a day of swabs being done, according to NHS Test and Trace statistics.
Nine out of 10 tests carried out at major testing centres were done within a day, but this dropped to just two out of 100 when it came to home tests.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson promised on June 3 that every test would be turned around within one day by the end of the month.