EAST Lancashire is set to get its new six-week community testing programme in place swiftly, a public health boss has said.

Plans for the ‘Surge Testing’ programme using pregnancy-style ‘Lateral Flow Devices’ which give results on site in 30 minutes will be submitted to government by the end of the week.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock confirmed the new testing regime for tier three areas on Monday night.

Blackburn with Darwen Council’s public health director Professor Dominic Harrison said: “We expect Lancashire will be prioritised for the community testing for tier three areas announced this week by government. We will not be undertaking mass testing in the same way as Liverpool.

“Our Lancashire programme will focus on higher risk target groups in settings (workplaces, schools), higher risk areas (wards), or higher risk communities (BAME or homeless).

“We have been asked to submit our plans to central government by the end of this week and we expect the go-ahead very quickly.

“After that time we will continue to use the new technology across the county. This new testing programme will focus on finding asymptomatic.”