Covid-19 Testing Pilot in Liverpool

Mrs Heather Wheeler (South Derbyshire) (Con)
What assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of the whole city covid-19 testing pilot in Liverpool.

The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Matt Hancock)
The Liverpool pilot will help to inform a blueprint of how mass testing can be achieved and how rapid testing can be delivered at scale. We are now making mass testing available right across the country.

Mrs Wheeler [V]
I thank my right hon. Friend for his reply. May I ask him to agree to extend the pilot for rapid testing to the whole of Derbyshire and Derby to give the pilot real work to compare our semi-rural area with the urban area of Liverpool?

Matt Hancock
We are now issuing test kits to 84 directors of public health across the country. I am very happy to work with Derbyshire and Derby to make sure that my hon. Friend’s request is taken up and we can make this happen.