University of Portsmouth first in UK to offer Covid-19 testing for asymptomatic staff and students
The Prime Minister has said that he wants to avoid a second national lockdown.
Speaking during a visit to Oxford, Boris Johnson said he wanted to keep schools and the economy open but said that extra measures, other than the rule of 6, might need to be considered in order to keep the virus at bay.
From today, 25,000 students and staff at the University of Portsmouth are being given the option to get tested - whether they have symptoms or not. The university has spent half a million pounds setting up the mobile facility.
Report by ITV News Meridian's Mike Pearse:
As universities across the south start to return to teaching, the University of Portsmouth is the first English university to have Covid testing for asymptomatic staff and students.*
Asymptomatic testing is overseen by clinicians and is voluntary.
Staff and students are being encouraged to take up the offer in order to provide regular updated infection data to help monitor and prevent the spread of the coronavirus on campus.
What do students think?
The facility is part of a proactive University screening programme in partnership with Public Health Portsmouth and Portsmouth Hospital University Trust.
Test results will be sent by text or email, usually within 24 hours.
Anyone receiving a positive test will automatically enter the NHS track and trace system and may be contacted by the University.
Professor Graham Galbraith- Vice Chancellor, University of Portsmouth:
(*This facility is in addition to the NHS-run Covid testing facility for those in the wider community with Covid symptoms, located elsewhere on the University's campus).