Christmas Covid testing for students begins today

Universities are opening temporary testing centres from today, where hundreds of thousands of students will be checked for Covid-19 this week before they leave.

Sports halls and rooms on campus are being converted into testing centres, where students will take “lateral flow” swab tests, which will provide results within an hour, with the outcome sent by email or text.

Students have been asked to take two tests, three days apart.

Two tests are recommended to increase accuracy – and students will be expected to travel soon after a second negative result, with students in England encouraged to leave campus’ within 24 hours.

If they test negative, many students will leave university in the “travel window” starting from 3rd December.

However, if students receive a positive result, they will have to take another test to confirm – and if they have coronavirus, they will have to stay and self-isolate.

But, testing is voluntary and it will not be available in all universities.

The UCU lecturers’ union says the approach to testing has been rushed and confused and the last-minute arrangements will be a “recipe for chaos”.

The union said it had “grave concerns” and “testing so many people and following necessary safety measures would be an extremely challenging operation”.