Advertisement Councils under England's toughest coronavirus restrictions are to roll out rapid community testing programmes in a bid to cut Covid-19 transmission rates this winter. An initial wave of 67 Tier 3 local authorities have received Government approval for testing schemes to help put them on a path towards relaxing local measures. As part of the Government's Covid winter plan, more than 1.6 million rapid turnaround lateral flow tests would be delivered for use this month, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said. Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the enhanced testing programmes follow a successful pilot in Liverpool and will be a 'vital additional tool' in finding asymptomatic cases.