Coronavirus testing expanded to everyone over five with symptoms
Everyone in the UK over the age of five with one of the three official coronavirus symptoms will be eligible for testing from today.
Health secretary Matt Hancock made the announcement to the House of Commons this afternoon.
It comes after loss of taste or smell, technically known as anosmia, was added to the official Covid-19 list of symptoms along with a fever and a new, continuous cough.
“Anyone [over the age of five] with a new continuous cough or a high temperature or the loss or change of sense of taste or smell can book a test by visiting nhs.uk/coronavirus,” Hancock said.
“We will continue to prioritise access to tests for nhs and social care patients, residents and staff.”
Hancock also announced that 21,000 people had been recruited as “contact tracers” to administer the government’s “test and trace” programme.
The health secretary said that the 21,000 tracers provides “capacity for the current level of new cases demonstrated by the ONS surveys”.
However, the NHSX app that will be a part of the programme will not be ready until next month, despite Hancock earlier setting a target of mid-May.
“Today, I can confirm we have recruited over 21,000 contact tracers – this includes 7,500 healthcare professionals who will provide our core handlers with expert clinical advice,” he said.
“They will help manually trace the contacts of anyone who has had a positive test and advise them on whether they need to isolate.
“We now have the elements we need to roll out our national test and trace service – the testing capacity, the tracing capability and the technology.”
The UK’s testing capacity is now above 100,000 a day, with a view to increasing this to at least 200,000.