Community Covid testing could be rolled out on the Isle of Wight in the next few days.

A bid has been submitted by the Isle of Wight Council for lateral flow testing to be introduced for front facing workers.

The Department for Health and Social Care has yet to approve the council's bid but the authority said it is hopeful it will go through and when it does, it will be ready to roll out the testing as early as the start of next week.

Speaking at a meeting of the Local Outbreak Engagement Board earlier today (Thursday), director of public health for the Isle of Wight, Simon Bryant, said the community testing will be able to break the chain of transmission and infections as lateral flow tests will pick up the people with Covid who have no symptoms and appear perfectly fine.

He said: "We know about a third of cases are asymptomatic so those people won’t be going forward for tests and won't know they are spreading the virus inadvertently.

"It is a really important aspect alongside the hands, face, space measures, even if you have had a vaccination. All of those measures together will allow us to really get on top of this, which we have done all the way through."

Lateral flow tests will be provided at a centre for the workers twice a week, every three to five days, to catch further cases of the virus.

Those eligible for the frontline testing include those who have to leave their homes for work and where there is a higher risk of exposure or potential for mixing between household groups, such as retail staff and construction workers.

A booking system will be set up to allow people to turn up and take their test which will return their results in 30 minutes.

John Metcalfe, chief executive of the Isle of Wight Council, warned case numbers may appear to be rising with the lateral flow tests but that will not be a bad thing as it it will mean the tail of the infection will be shorter, stopping the pandemic sooner.

He said the community testing will allow key workers some security when they go about their job and when they go home and he encouraged everybody who is eligible to take advantage of the tests and 'really stick' to the scheme.

As another tool in the council's tool box against Covid-19, Cllr Dave Stewart, leader of the council, said the community testing was almost 'hunting down the virus' to help the Island move forward.

The community testing will also work alongside other testing programmes rolled out by the Department for Health and Social Care including testing for schools and adult social care frontline staff.