Matt Hancock opens coronavirus testing to all NHS and social care workers
Coronavirus tests will now be available to all NHS and social care worker staff, along with everyone living in a care home.
All NHS patients and all over 65s with coronavirus symptoms will also be eligible to receive a Covid-19 test, health secretary Matt Hancock announced today.
Hancock said 43,453 tests were administered yesterday and that the UK now has capacity to administer 73,400 tests a day.
These figures bring the UK closer to the government’s target of 100,000 Covid-19 tests a day by the end of April, which is just two days away.
“We started with testing of hospital patients…ramping up to include symptomatic NHS and social care colleagues and their households, then to all essential workers,” Hancock said.
“Building on successful pilots, we will be rolling out testing of asymptomatic residents and staff in care homes in England and to patients and staff in the NHS. Anyone who is working or living in a care home will be able to get access to a test whether they have symptoms or not.
“From now, we’re making testing available to all 65s and their households with symptoms and all workers that have to leave home in order to go to work and members of their households who have symptoms.”
Hancock also announced at the press briefing that the government will now be publishing the number of coronavirus deaths from care homes and the wider community.
Previously, numbers from Public Health England had only included those who have died from Covid-19 in hospital.
A further 586 people died in hospitals from coronavirus today, bringing the total to 21,678.
The Office for National Statistics estimates that 4,343 people have died from coronavirus in care homes in the past fortnight.