Stephen Barclay, the Cabinet Office minister, is expected to chair a meeting of Whitehall’s Covid operations committee next week to assess sector shortages.
One government source said: “There are plans to look at prioritising tests for critical national infrastructure and critical workers. It is for those who cannot work in the office.”
On Thursday night, a government spokesman said: “The UK’s testing programme is the biggest in Europe and record numbers are being delivered to pharmacies, homes and those who need them. The NHS has additional stock of lateral flow tests, and those who live or work in vulnerable settings have access to dedicated testing order routes.
“If at some point it is necessary to do so, we will always prioritise protecting the most vulnerable as well as critical workforces – as we have done throughout the pandemic when it comes to vaccines, boosters, testing and other infection control measures such as PPE.”
Sir Iain Duncan Smith, the former Tory leader, urged the Government to slash the daily self-isolation requirement from seven days to five, as long as all five tests were negative.
“It would cut down on a huge amount of tests being used,” said Sir Iain, adding: “We’re over-testing ourselves now. The people that need to test are the people that are going to be treating us.”
Lord Bilimoria, the CBI president, urged ministers to look “at everything they can do to minimise the days of isolation and to make the most of the tests” as millions of Britons prepare to return to work. He said: “We would want the minimum as is required, and as safely as possible.”
But The Telegraph understands ministers are reluctant to tinker with the testing rules any further. One senior government source warned that removing the PCR confirmation test for a positive lateral flow result could make it harder to use DNA sequencing to track the virus.
Meanwhile, Boris Johnson will on Friday claim the Government has met its target to offer all adults in England a booster by the New Year, despite analysis by The Telegraph showing that nine million adults have still not yet had a third jab.
