UCL to offer Covid-19 testing for staff and students
UCL has today announced plans to introduce up to 1,000 Covid-19 tests a day for staff and students who experience coronavirus symptoms. The move is the culmination of several months' work by teams across UCL working in collaboration with our diagnostic laboratory partner Health Services Laboratories (HSL). The expansion programme will be overseen by UCL's world-leading clinicians and researchers who are currently working on the national response to the coronavirus pandemic and advising Government. UCL has already established a Covid-19 antigen testing facility which is led by a team from the UCL Cancer Institute. This facility has delivered a successful pilot testing programme at the Paul O'Gorman Building for a limited number of staff. Based on the pilot, this testing capacity will now be expanded in line with the Government's recent guidance for universities. The university is aiming to provide up to 1,000 tests every day for symptomatic staff and students across UCL by the start of term on 28th September. At the current time, testing of asymptomatic staff or students will only be undertaken where our public health advisers consider this appropriate, and will not be offered routinely.
