Tesco to stock £2 lateral flow tests from Friday
Tesco is going to stock £2 lateral flow tests in store and online as of tomorrow.
The supermarket giant signed a deal with healthcare firm Everything Genetic, as the government ends access to free lateral flows.
The £2 kits, which are “less than a price of a takeaway coffee” will be available in more than 1,500 stores across the UK, as well as online customers in London. It will be rolled out nationally in May.
The tests have a clinical performance of 96.1 per cent, and a 100 per cent specificity in detecting Coronavirus. They were recently approved by the UK Health Security Agency’s Medical Devices Regulations 2021 (CTDA).
With the end of free tests and rising Covid cases across the country, there has been concern about the virus spreading, and new variants going undetected.
Everything Genetic’s chief executive James Price said “thousands of individuals across the UK will still want the peace of mind that the fast, efficient and accurate LFT devices can provide” given he pressures.
He said the tests can “be used at-need to provide a fast, efficient and reliable result of positivity” and pursue the firm’s “overarching ambition.. to democratise testing”, whether for Covid, or other areas of health such as hereditary diseases.
“Bringing down the cost price for these tests to less than a price of a takeaway coffee, could help us realise those ambitions.