ANYONE who leaves home to go to work can now be tested for coronavirus, Matt Hancock revealed today.
The Health Secretary expanded testing for Covid-19 to make sure millions more people more can get them – under radical plans to get the country moving again.
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Mr Hancock also confirmed that testing has been expanded to include:
- Care home residents, staff and NHS workers without symptoms
- All over-65s and their families with symptoms
- Anyone who have to leave home to work and has symptoms, including builders, plumbers, those in manufacturing
- Families of anyone who leaves the house to work and has symptoms
Speaking at today’s press briefing, Mr Hancock said: “Anyone living or working in care homes can now get access to a test whether they have symptoms or not.
“And we now have the capacity to go further still. From now, we will be making testing available to all over 65s and their households with symptoms and workers who have to leave home to go to work and members of their households who have symptoms.
“This includes construction workers, emergency plumbers, those in manufacturing.
“This expansion of access to testing will protect the most vulnerable and help keep people safe.”
The five ways individuals can get a test are:
- Testing in NHS hospitals
- Regional test centres in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland
- Satellite centres
- Be sent a home test kit
- Mobile testing units which travel around the country.
Last week Mr Hancock announced around ten million key workers from the NHS and care staff to police officers, firefighters, journalists and supermarket staff would be able to get tests through a new online portal if they needed one.
But yesterday, home tests kits online were unavailable only an hour after new slots were released.
It was the fourth day in a row sick Brits were unable to get a hold of the tests they need through the portal.
10,000 home testing kits were ordered yesterday through the site.
Until then, only limited numbers of Brits such as patients, health and care workers and some key public sector staff were eligible for a test.
Where are the drive through test centres?
There are now 29 Regional Test Sites set up by the Department of Health and Social Care:
- Aberdeen
- Belfast
- Birmingham (Midland Metropolitan)
- Brighton
- Bristol
- Cardiff
- Chessington
- Doncaster
- Edgbaston
- Edinburgh
- Gateshead
- Gatwick
- Glasgow
- Greenwich
- Ipswich
- Leeds
- Liverpool
- Londonderry
- Manchester
- Milton Keynes
- NHS Nightingale London
- Nottingham
- Plymouth
- Portsmouth
- Preston
- Stansted
- Twickenham
- Wembley
- Worcester.
The Department of Health and Social Care are currently supporting 13 NHS trusts with satellite test sites for their staff (located in: Bexhill; Bognor Regis; Bradford; Chester; Coventry; Crewe; Huddersfield; Kendal; Lincolnshire; Liverpool; Manchester; Sandwell and Wakefield).
Brits without a car will be offered a home test, including swabs and instructions – with 1,000 kits sent out daily before the scheme is ramped up.
They will be delivered by Amazon within 24 hours, before being collected the next day by Royal Mail.
All those tested will get their results by text within 48 hours of having their swab taken.
The Department of Health and Social Care has launched a new web portal for employers and self-referral for key workers and their families.
Anyone can check if they are eligible and where they can get a test at www.gov.uk/coronavirus.
During the briefing, Mr Hancock also said the Government was on track to meet its 100,000 test per day target by the end of the month, and that by the end of the week the number of home test kits available each day would rise to 25,000 from 5,000.
He said: “At the start of the month we set a goal of 100,000 tests a day – every day we are ramping this up and we are on track to meet that goal.
“There are now 41 drive throughs, 48 going live this week.
“For people who can’t get to the tests we are expanding home tests to get it to them.
“We will be expanding home from 5,000 last Friday to 25,000 a day this Friday.
“By the end of the week we plan to have over 70 mob testing units deployed.
“All of this has led to an increase in daily test in capacity of 73,400.”
Earlier today, Mr Hancock made a £100 wager that he will achieve his testing target of 100,000 daily swabs by the end of April.
LBC host Nick Ferrari offered to give a charity of the Health Secretary’s choosing a cheque for £100 if he met his own testing target.
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Mr Ferrari asked Mr Hancock: “Are you prepared to have a £100 wager, and I will never be happier to write a cheque for £100, are you prepared to have a £100 bet when you deliver 100,000 tests on May 1st?”
Mr Hancock replied: “I’ve got enough riding on this already Nick… (but) let’s do it for Hospice UK.”
The Health Secretary said he was working hard to get testing numbers up but that there are “no guarantees in life”.
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