Gov seeks to buy 350,000 more LFT kits

Wednesday 18 January 2023

The Government is seeking to purchase up to 350,000 more rapid covid tests as part of its "continuity planning".

A recently-posted call-out on the Government's tender portal stated: "In Jersey, the programme of Covid self-testing using LFTs is already well-established and is scheduled to continue into 2023.

"However, in order to ensure continuity of service, the government is seeking to supplement the current stock holding with the supply of additional LFTs, up to 375,000, to be ordered during the period 1 February 2023 to 31 March 2023."

However, despite issuing a tender notice, Public Health Director Professor Peter Bradley said he is not concerned about stock levels.

He also confirmed that there are no plans to  start charging for the tests. In Guernsey, free covid tests for most people were stopped at the end of December.

Professor Bradley said: "As part of contingency and business continuity planning, the government regularly engages with the commercial market to ensure potential supply chains are available and secure should they be required. The request for quotes is open for bids until 25 January, however remains commercially sensitive."

He added: "We are very confident our current stock levels are sufficient to service expected demand and we have secure and established supply chains in place to resupply should that become necessary. There are also no current plans to introduce a charge for LFTs."

There were 282 known covid cases at the time of the last official statistics release last Thursday. Recorded cases peaked shortly before Christmas, when there were more than 1,000.

Since the start of the year, eight covid-related deaths have been recorded, bringing the total number of covid deaths in the island to 154.