COVID-19 testing extended to all essential workers in England who have symptoms

Coronavirus: Army’s pop-up testing centres added to pandemic arsenal

All essential workers in England, and members of their households, who are showing symptoms of coronavirus will now be able to get tested, the government has announced.

This will mean individuals and people they live with will have the reassurance of knowing whether their symptoms are caused by coronavirus and can decide whether they are well enough to return to work.

A new campaign will help essential workers in England – including NHS and care staff, teachers, hospital cleaners, public servants, the emergency services, supermarket staff, transport workers, delivery drivers and other critical infrastructure staff  – to access testing.

This is an estimated 10 million people.

Any critical worker or member of their household who needs a test can now get one through one of our five routes to get tested:

1. Testing in NHS hospitals
2. Regional test centres
3. Satellite centres
4. Home test kits
5. Mobile testing units

Tests can be booked via a new online system. Employers can register and refer self-isolating staff. Employees will also be able to book a test directly for themselves or members of their household who are experiencing symptoms (a high temperature or new continuous cough).

Matt Hancock, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care announced the new testing arrangements at Thursday's Downing Street coronavirus briefing, along with a commitment to recruit 18,000 people to trace contacts of those infected. Hancock said: “We have already prioritised testing for patients and health and social care workers and other key workers today I can go further. We are making it easier, faster and simpler for any essential worker in England who needs a test to get a test.

“From today, employers of essential workers will be able to go on GOV.UK to get a test for any of their staff who need a test. And from tomorrow, any essential workers who need a test will be able to book an appointment on GOV.UK themselves directly. This all applies for people in essential workers’ households who need a test too.”

Testing in the UK

• 31 new drive-through Regional Testing Centres are now up and running across the UK
• Testing capacity is now at 51,121 per day
• 31 new drive-through Regional Test Centres are open across the UK, with 48 planned
• A new web portal for employers and self-referral for key workers and their families.

Essential workers using the new portal can enter their details and will then receive a text or email the same day inviting them to either book an appointment at one of more than 30 drive-through testing sites across the country, or receive a home testing kit. Test results from the drive-through sites will be sent out by text within 48 hours, and within 72 hours of collection of the home delivery tests.

Hancock said the aim is that most people should not have to drive for more than 45 minutes to get to a regional testing site. Additional testing methods are being rolled-out to support testing accessibility.

A network of new mobile testing units is being established by the army. These will travel the country to reach care homes, police stations, prisons and other sites where there is demand for testing. The units have been designed to clinical requirements by army engineers and can be set up in under 20 minutes.

The mobile units will work alongside the drive-through test sites, together sending thousands of patient samples to the network of Lighthouse Labs, to rapidly increase the number of tests completed each day.

A delivery service for home testing kits has been designed with key industry partners, including Royal Mail and Amazon. The home delivery service will come on line from 25 April. The availability of home testing kits will initially be limited, but more will become available soon. This will ensure those not able to travel to a test centre can still take the test, find out their results and return to work if possible.

About 15,000 tests were booked to take place on Friday at drive-through site and 5,000 home testing kits were ordered in the first two hours. However, the new website temporarily closed hours after being opened. The Department of Health apologised for "any inconvenience" caused by the temporary closure of applications.

Working with Public Health England, the Care Quality Commission and the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services, the government is sending packages of ‘satellite’ test kits directly to care homes across England, to enable testing of symptomatic residents.

Since the beginning of April, the government has been increasing the UK’s coronavirus testing capacity and says it is on track to provide 100,000 tests a day by the end of the month.

The three new Lighthouse Labs in Milton Keynes, Glasgow and Alderley Park in Cheshire are scaling up to test tens of thousands of patient samples each day.

Under the government’s five-pillar strategy, swab testing has been offered to different groups in a phased approach, prioritising NHS workers, but the ultimate aim is that anyone who needs a test will be able to have one.

The Department of Health and Social Care said testing will help the government and scientists understand the current spread of the virus and plan how to manage the pandemic moving forwards.

The UK Government said it is working across the four nations to ensure the take up of testing among essential workers. Each of the devolved administrations will have their own eligibility criteria and testing priorities, however the government is working closely to align approaches.