  Repeat asymptomatic testing in order to identify and quarantine infectious
individuals has become a widely-used intervention to control SARS-CoV-2
transmission. In some workplaces, and in particular health and social care
settings with vulnerable patients, regular asymptomatic testing has been
deployed to staff to reduce the likelihood of workplace outbreaks. We have
developed a model based on data available in the literature to predict the
potential impact of repeat asymptomatic testing on SARS-CoV-2 transmission. The
results highlight features that are important to consider when modelling
testing interventions, including population heterogeneity of infectiousness and
correlation with test-positive probability, as well as adherence behaviours in
response to policy. Furthermore, the model based on the reduction in
transmission potential presented here can be used to parameterise existing
epidemiological models without them having to explicitly simulate the testing
process. Overall, we find that even with different model paramterisations, in
theory, regular asymptomatic testing is likely to be a highly effective measure
to reduce transmission in workplaces, subject to adherence.
