What plans do you have to support surge testing in London, if necessary, to help control transmission of coronavirus, and specifically, variants of concern like Omicron?

I am closely monitoring the Covid-19 situation in London including the rapidly evolving impact of Omicron. I meet regularly with my Strategic Health Adviser and other partners from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), Office for Health Disparities (OHID) and the NHS who update me on the ongoing situation. This includes data on testing including local surge testing for variants of concerns which are actively monitored.

The UKHSA London regional team organise and recommend surge testing in London. Targeted PCR testing for contacts is taking place in response to confirmed cases of the Omicron variant, and UKHSA are targeting specific locations where we believe that known cases and their contacts may have visited when they were likely to have been infectious. This settings-based testing is being carried out with the support of Mobile Testing Units with UKHSA Regional teams and Local Authorities working together.