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I posted earlier in the week that the DHSC were in the process of setting up a dynamic purchasing system for lateral flow test's. The video providing info on this focused on the rapid antigen test's which we are all too familiar with. However yesterday a notice from the DHSC was placed on Bidstats stating that the DPS would be up and running from April 7th for a year with a value of £8 billion.If you look further at the info provided under the CPV codes it states they are also looking for Immuno Analysis Devices. Roll on Novacyts lft launch in Q2
https://bidstats.uk/tenders/2021/W09/746193438

Latest numbers for variant cases in the UK. It seems the number of South African variant cases has gone up by 60 in just over a fortnight. The 16 cases of a new variant are mentioned at the bottom of the list .
https//www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-variants-genomically-confirmed-case-numbers/variants-distribution-of-cases-data

Welcome back ShaunP, last night you raised the question about the prevalence of pulmonary aspergillosis. From what I can see in this report from the CDC it effects between 20 and30% of critically ill patients on ventilator's. Numerous report's link the increase to the greater use of steroids used in fighting covid19.
https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/27/1/20-2896_article

A better link to go with my post on Pulmonary Aspergillosis ,the lung infection that Novacyt are developing a test for.
https://erj.ersjournals.com/content/56/4/2002554

In the recent R+D rns Novacyt stated they were developing test's for pulmonary aspergillosis. This is a fungal disease that has been found in increasing numbers of covid19 patient's that have sadly died. One of the reasons given for this increase is the extensive use of steroids to fight the inflammatory effect's of Covid . This in turn compromises the immune system and allows aspergillosis to develop in the patients lung's, especially if they have been on a ventilator for a prolonged period or time . Currently it seems that one of the more accurate ways of testing is to perform a bronchoscopy to obtain a sample from the lung's.This type of test is extremely dangerous to the operatives due to the number of covid19 particles that get released into the air while performing it . The big question is will Novacyts test be able to work using a less invasive means of sample collection.
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laning/article/PllS1473-3099(20)30847-1/fulltext

Wilson63, from what I can see this is only being set up strictly for the purchase of lateral flow rapid antigen test's. Companies need to have their test successfully validated before they can be added to the list of supplier's.Where the money is coming from is unknown, it could possibly be from the £22billion framework or they've been back to the money tree.

Plenty of info in this short video regarding lateral flow test's. From the info contained it appears that the DHSC are in the process of setting up a Dynamic Purchasing System for lft's starting later this month with an expenditure ceiling of £10 billion for the next 12 month's.
https://vimeo.com/516654709/b3f7bdeda6

https://bidstats.uk/tenders/2021/W09/745931131

https://bidstats.uk.tenders/2021/W09/745931131

Seems like the USA is finally starting to take the sequencing of covid19 samples more seriously.
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2021/02/us-rushes-fill-void-viral-sequencing-worrisome-coronavirus-variants-spread

This has become a big problem and it is currently estimated that 10% of the people who have had Covid go on to develop prolonged symptoms. Figures in this link from late November estimated that there were 186,000 people with long covid19 in the UK . Since then the number of positive cases in the UK has more than doubled to over 4 million in just three months , which makes Long Covid an ever increasing problem that little is known about at the moment.
https://www.ons.gov.uk/news/statementsandletters/theprevalenceoflongcovidsymptonsandcovid19complications

Sorry about those links
https://www.fish4.co.uk/job/10552297/senior-territory-account-manager/
https://www.fish4.co.uk/job/10552296/senior-territory-account-manager/

These are the two latest sales jobs with Novacyt and both are permanent with a closing date of 13/03/21 . Part of the job description states -You will have the chance to play a pivotal role in our success by driving the adoption of our Covid19 product's in hospital's and building a platform for future business with the NHS.
https://www.fish4.co.uk/10552296/senior-territory-account-manager/
https://www.fish4.co.uk/10552297/senior-territory-account-manager/

Not much has been said about the new Covid Direct High Throughput test which was announced today. From the information provided it appears to already be in use at the Cambridge Lighthouse lab. Using this type of test will remove approximately 40 minutes from the overall testing process because there is no need for RNA extraction before starting the PCR test . Looking on the websites of Thermofisher and Perkin Elmer who are the main suppliers to the lighthouse labs they don't appear to have covid19 direct HT test's .Their test's are HT but with a separate operation for the extraction of RNA .

Excellent quarterly r+d update with plenty of info if you take the time to read it thoroughly. News of the the development of a next generation antibody test to detect the neutralising antibodies generated by successful immunisation and therefore to assist in monitoring the effectiveness of FUTURE vaccines. Details of the vaccine surveillance which is being put in place in the UK can be seen in this link .
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/951189/COVID-19_vaccine_surveillance_strategy.pdf
This is the surveillance of covid19 vaccines in targeted group's and then more of the general population over a lengthy period of time. It's worth remembering the comment by Novacyts head of R+D that a lot of their work is client driven.

I've just been taking a look through this £40 million contract for point of care covid19 testing that was published on the 12/01)21 . This was awarded to Alpha Laboratories who are based approximately a couple of miles from Primer Design in Eastleigh . Looking at the detail's of the contract on the Amatis link they are initially going to supply tubes filled with a saline solution to put covid19 test samples in .Then it states this order could be changed at a later date to empty , sterilised tubes to put samples in .This seems to fit in with Novacyts near patient testing which now uses a dry swab since the launch of PROmate. What I can't properly understand is the size of the contract ,you get a lot of sample tubes for that sort of money . I did wonder if some of these empty , sterilised tubes could be connected to a possible scale up of lamp testing using the dry swab method . Finally looking on the LinkedIn page for Novacyts Healthcare Associated Infections Product Manager it also shows details of Alpha Labs Product Manager .Has anyone got any thoughts on the above ? I could be wide of the mark.
https://bidstats.uk/tenders/2021/W02/742785107
https://www.alphalabs.co.uk/

Wilson63, thanks for that link. Interesting comment halfway through the interview where professor Peak(ock states they would like to be able to sequence every case . Going off the figures she spoke of it seems they are currently sequencing around 5,000 samples a day .As covid19 infection number's gradually come down and their sequencing capacity increases this should be achievable .That really would enable them to form an accurate understanding of all variant's throughout the country in real time instead of having to play catch up several day's or more later.

I don't know if this report has been posted before covering the full trial of the Innova test .In the trial a CT value of 25.5 gave a 96% test success rate ,after that a CT value of 28.5 gave a 60% result and 29.3 couldn't detect anything 0%.The report also acknowledges there is a big drop in the test accuracy when used by people who are not clinically trained.
That's why manufacturer's print for clinical use only on the side of the boxes the test's are packed in .
https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.01.13.21249563v1.full.pdf

Strange how our new poster never mentioned the vaccine surveillance stategy which is being put in place .
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/951189/COVID-19_vaccine_surveillance_strategy.pdf

Plenty of info attached to this link regarding variants. They also mention how the UK variant was initially picked up at three of the large labs .
https://post.parliament.uk/sars-cov-2-virus-variants-a-year-into-the-covid-19-pandemic/
Looking ahead with numerous countries experiencing several variants of the virus i can see a big demand for the all in one test's such as Variplex to help governments accurately and speedily map the spread or reduction of these different variants.