Everyone aged five and over in the UK with symptoms can now be tested for coronavirus, Health Secretary Matt Hancock has announced.
He was speaking in Parliament after the loss of taste or smell was added to the list of Covid-19 symptoms, alongside a fever and a new persistent cough.
Mr Hancock said the government was “expanding eligibility for testing further than ever before”.
He added 100,678 tests had been conducted on Sunday.
Testing has been limited to people with symptoms who are key workers, hospital patients, care home residents, over-65s and those who need to leave home to work in England and Scotland.
In Wales and Northern Ireland it was just key workers, hospital workers and care home residents.
Mr Hancock said 21,000 people had been recruited to conduct contact-tracing in England, including 7,500 healthcare workers.
This is when people who have come into contact with someone with the virus are tracked down and potentially asked to self-isolate.
Shadow health and social care secretary Jonathan Ashworth pressed the government on the time taken for results to be received on whether someone had Covid-19 or not.
He told MPs: “Can [Mr Hancock] tell us what is the current median time for test results to be received by someone when carried out by Deloitte and other private-sector testing facilities?
“And how soon do directors of public health and GPs receive those results?”
More information about getting tested can be found on the government website – click here.
Source: BBC
