Military to support mass Covid testing of pupils

Personnel from the UK Military will provide planning and training support to secondary schools and colleges with Covid-19 testing using lateral flow devices at the start of the spring term.

The Military personnel are on standby to support secondary schools and colleges across England to roll out COVID-19 testing to students and staff as the new term begins in January.

This builds on school testing pilots conducted in November and December where miltary personnel supported thousands of tests being carried out at pilot schools.

1,500 UK Armed Forces personnel are being made available to support the Department for Education and Department for Health and Social Care. The majority of personnel will form local response teams, providing support and phone advice to institutions needing guidance on the testing process and set-up of the testing facilities.

This will be done predominantly through webinars and individual meetings, but teams will also be on standby to deploy at short notice to provide in-person support to resolve any issues in the situations where testing would otherwise not be able to go ahead. Schools and colleges will shortly be provided with further information on how to request additional support if needed.

A small team of planners is embedded in the Department for Health and Social care who are supporting the Department for Education to help coordinate the support. The majority of personnel will be on task from this week as they start to conduct training.

As well as additional funding, the government will provide schools and colleges with the kit they need and have introduced a staggered return at the start of term.

Students will be expected to swab themselves in the vast majority of cases, under the supervision of a school staff member or volunteer who has been trained for the role. Teachers are not expected to take a role in the testing process.