The Department of Health has explained the rationale behind the proposed change to end Covid testing for the general population in the autumn.
It said that Covid-19 will be managed in a similar manner to other infectious diseases, primarily as a clinical decision at GP care level, but underpinned by a robust surveillance system.
The Department said that continuation of the testing programme at the scale seen to date, has very limited public health rationale now, baring a significant deterioration in disease indicators, or the emergence of a variant of concern that has major public health implications.
From the autumn, testing will only occur based on a clinical assessment where a clinician requires the result to contribute to the diagnosis and management of an individual patient, or where deemed necessary by public health in relation to the management of an outbreak or specific public health risk.