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The city has been placed on a list of areas, published by the Government, that will be next to receive the lateral flow tests being used in Liverpool and Lancashire.

The test kits, which are widely available and do not need to be sent to a laboratory, will allow people to be tested without symptoms so the virus can be detected early, potentially saving lives.

Susan Hird, a consultant in Public Health at Sheffield City Council, said mass testing in Sheffield could be targeted at frontline workers and relatives of care home residents to allow visits to their loved ones.

A government health warning is displayed in Sheffield, after a range of new restrictions to combat the rise in coronavirus cases came into place in England.

She said: “The question is how do you make use of these tests because they can do some good but they can also do some harm – it doesn’t give a perfect result.

"We have to think carefully about how we use them but they are a useful progression.”

Current scientific data shows the tests could only be 80 per cent accurate, Ms Hird said.

Sheffield’s director of Public Health has also predicted “substantial measures” will need to remain in place over winter despite several recent positive developments – but said there could be “limited room” to relax some of the current restrictions when the second national lockdown finishes on 2 December.

British Army Brigadier, Joe Fossey, who is coordinating the mass coronavirus testing pilot in Liverpool, holds up the components of a lateral flow Covid-19 test at a Downing Street press conference.

Sheffield’s infection rate fell to 297 per 100,000 people in the seven days to 13 November, down from 362 the week before. It was previously almost 450 before Tier 3 restrictions were introduced in October, having been as low as 20 in early summer.

Sheffield WILL get mass coronavirus testing which give rapid results