Coronavirus UK: Anyone over five with symptoms can have test

Anyone over the age of five in the UK with coronavirus symptoms can now apply for a test, Matt Hancock announced today.

The Health Secretary revealed checks will would be available at the drive-in centres or through mobile screening and could be booked online.

Nicola Sturgeon once again stole Mr Hancock’s thunder by revealing the move at her daily briefing in Edinburgh, hours before it was announced in the Commons. 

Britain has been repeatedly blasted for its lacklustre response to testing throughout the crisis, which allowed the virus to spiral out of control in March without officials having any clue as to how widespread the true scale of the outbreak was. 

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has promised to dramatically ramp up testing as the UK moves towards finally leaving lockdown, after eight weeks of strict measures. But officials again yesterday failed to hit their target of carrying out 100,000 swabs in a day. Health chiefs have yet to release today’s statistics.

The announcement came after health chiefs finally added the loss of, or noticeable change to, taste and smell to the NHS’s list of coronavirus symptoms, weeks after experts first raised concerns thousands of cases were being missed. 

In the House of Commons today, Mr Hancock said: ‘We are expanding eligibility for testing further than ever before.

‘Yesterday we conducted 100,678 tests. Every day we are creating more capacity and that means more people can be tested, and the virus has fewer places to hide.

‘Today, I can announce to the House everyone aged five and over with symptoms is now eligible for a test. That applies right across the UK in all four nations from now.

‘Anyone with a new continuous cough, a high temperature or the loss or change of sense of taste or smell can book a test by visiting nhs.uk/coronavirus.’ 

It comes after the government expanded the symptoms of coronavirus to state that people should self-isolate if they lose their sense of smell or taste.

In the first change to the policy since the beginning of the outbreak, officials have added a third tell-tale sign to the government’s definition of COVID-19.

The chief medical officers of the UK say anosmia – the scientific name for the loss of the senses – is clearly linked to the virus and should be treated with the same amount of caution as a fever or a new cough, the only other two official symptoms.

Angered doctors welcomed the move but said it had ‘taken too long’, with the UK lagging behind other countries and the World Health Organization after nose and throat specialists first sounded the alarm about this in March.

It comes after Britain’s testing fiasco deepened again last week amid claims that test results of tens of thousands of people had ‘disappeared into a black hole’.

Authorities across the UK said they can no longer access data for swabs conducted outside NHS hospitals, which helps them control outbreaks locally.

Officials used to provide the results but NHS boards have now been told ‘no data is being reported until further notice’. The problem arose on May 4.

Reporting will now only include tests that have been conducted in NHS labs, which only account for around half of the total swabs carried out.

It came after furious GPs slammed the ‘failing’ government for leaving them in the dark about how many people in the community are infected.