  Despite 93.1% to 95.8% of the UK adult population having been vaccinated and
currently 83.5% to 89.8% of adults having received at least two doses (1), and
despite many households testing twice a week with lateral flow tests (2), R at
the time of writing is 0.9 to 1.1, with a growth rate range for England of
between -1% and +1% (3). Furthermore, up to 30% of infected individuals are
going on to experience Long Covid (4). The crisis is far from over and as new
variants of concern like Omicron spread, the situation is not under control,
even in the highly vaccinated and tested UK and far less so in many countries.
The problem is likely to be replicated in other countries with currently low
infection levels as isolation is eased in future, even if these countries reach
a high level of vaccination. Additionally, concerns have been raised about fall
in immunity by 6 months after receiving the Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines
(5), and the ability of Omicron to re-infect and cause illness in vaccinated
people, with urgent booster jabs now being given to attempt to mitigate this. A
solution to stop the spread of all variants of COVID-19 is needed now, and we
present it here: CLDC, a rapid test that is 98%+ sensitive, low cost and
scalable.
