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Paul Najsarek, Solace spokesperson for Health & Social Care, said: “Larger scale, targeted asymptomatic testing is a welcome addition to the tools for responding to the pandemic, but it is not a panacea. It has a role to play as part of a suite of solutions to help keep residents safe and local economies moving.

“Mass testing is resource intensive and to roll it out to multiple regions, let alone right across the country, would require an enormous amount of funding and manpower to be effectively delivered, particularly for already stretched teams trying to sustain other strands of testing activity and plan for the implementation of a potential vaccination programme.

“While we want to scale-up testing, the best way to deliver that is for the Government to work with councils, and their health partners, to empower those with local knowledge to undertake more targeted testing at scale in particular settings and among specific groups of residents, responding to the particular circumstances of each area.

“But, at the end of the day, all forms of testing will fall short of the impact Ministers hope for if the Government fails to provide the right support package and incentives for people testing positive to self-isolate.”