Covid-19: Rise of Positive Tests Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department of Health and Social Care
Lord Bilimoria
Main Page: Lord Bilimoria (Crossbench - Life peer)Department Debates - View all Lord Bilimoria's debates with the Department of Health and Social Care
(4 years, 2 months ago)
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Lord Bethell (Con)
My Lords, any new regulations will be in place from Monday and will capture events such as the one the noble Lord describes.
Lord Bilimoria (CB) [V]
My Lords, I was delighted to hear the Secretary of State, Matt Hancock, announce the Government’s investment of £0.5 billion for testing innovation. Is the Minister aware of Abbott Laboratories’ new $5 antigen test, released just two weeks ago in the United States? On a card, within 15 minutes it can give results anywhere—at a school, a university, in the workplace or at the airport. Ten million are being produced this month in America, and 50 million next month. How soon will we have access to those sorts of tests, which will be a true game-changer in being able to have mass testing around the country?
Lord Bethell (Con)
My Lords, I am aware of the Abbott test. I spoke to Chris Scoggins from Abbott yesterday, and I pay tribute to innovators in this country, in America, and around the world for the dramatic increase in the speed, accuracy and scale of these tests. We hope that they will make a big difference.