Fears Manchester 'won't have enough warning' to prepare for another Covid-19 wave as government axes free testing

Manchester will struggle to be prepare for another Covid-19 wave amid the government's rollback of the free testing programme, says the city's public health director.

The ending of Covid-19 measures, including isolation rules for those who are positive, could pave the way for an increase in cases.

At the same time, those in charge will be left with a lack of timely data about the spread of the disease as fewer people register test results, as mass free lateral flow kits and PCR tests are withdrawn.

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David Regan, Manchester City Council's Director of Public Health, answered questions about the city's response to the pandemic going forward at the council's health scrutiny meeting today, March 9, as the borough faces an increase in its infection rates.

At the end of February, the Prime Minister announced the end of Covid restrictions and a move to national 'living with Covid' - but the news came 'quite a bit earlier' than the city's public health team expected, they told the meeting.

"We know we need to monitor the situation really closely as we know we're likely to get more waves of infection so we need to be prepared to respond to that," added Sarah Doran, a consultant for public health at the town hall.

But as free testing comes to a close later this month, people will be less likely to register positive results, leading to an absence of data which would identify infection spikes and virus hot spots early on.

"We did expect the slight increase that we've seen with more people mixing without the restrictions," explained David Regan.

"Our concern is an increase in