Coronavirus testing is being extended in the UK to anyone over the age of five with symptoms, Matt Hancock has announced, as it emerged that the national rollout for the government’s new test and track response appears set to be delayed to June. “Today, I can announce to the house that everyone aged five and over with symptoms is now eligible for a test,” the health secretary said in a statement to the Commons. “Anyone with a new continuous cough, a high temperature or the loss or change of sense of taste or smell can book a test.” Until now, eligibility had been limited to a series of groups including key workers, those aged over 65, people who could not work from home, or people who lived with someone from one of these groups. Those with symptoms can use the gov.uk website to book home test kits or appointments at drive-through centres across the country. The expansion follows a period in which the UK’s capacity for testing had exceeded the number of people seeking it. The most recent daily update showed that while there was capacity for almost 118,822 tests, 91,206 had been carried out. It comes amid confusion over the rollout for the NHS-designed track and test app, which along with a planned contingent of 18,000 contact-tracers is seen as key to plans to ease restrictions by alerting authorities to any localised outbreaks of Covid-19 and allowing them to be tackled. The app is being tested on the Isle of Wight. Last week, Hancock said the trial was going well and that the national rollout would happen “in mid-May”. Earlier on Monday, No 10 said only that it would happen “in the coming weeks”. Asked by his Labour shadow, Jonathan Ashworth, about the seeming delay, Hancock said the government was “ready and preparing for rolling out that system”, but gave no date. However, Hancock did say that the target for contract-tracers had been met, with more than 21,000 recruited.
Asked about the trial, Boris Johnson’s spokesman had said: “The pilot is ongoing in the Isle of Wight. The residents have been hugely supportive, with around 60,000 downloads on the island. Their feedback is vital in helping us to look at how the app is being used and how it can work with testing and contact tracing. And it remains our aim to roll out the app across the country in the coming weeks.”
Asked about the apparent change in the timeframe, the spokesman said the only commitment for mid-May had been to recruit the 18,000 contact tracers. “It is possible to do track and trace work separately to the app, and that’s obviously something that happened previously. And it’s perfectly possible to do that again,” the spokesman said when asked whether the system was dependent on the app. He also indicated it was possible the second phase of relaxing the lockdown, during which some schools and shops would open, could happen without the track and trace system operational.
Asked whether this was necessary, the spokesman said: “What we have said in relation to step two is that we will only move forwards if it is safe to do so, and that we will need to look at the five tests, which the government has in place, and we will need to study carefully both the R rate and the rate of new infections.” R is the number of people each infected person passes the virus on to, and needs to be kept below one in order to control the spread of the virus.
On Sunday, it emerged that one of the private-sector companies handling the recruitment for trackers had sent emails that said the process was on hold while the government considered an alternative app. The Department of Health and Social Care said the email was “wrong and could cause confusion”, and recruitment for both the online and phone-based contact-tracing service was continuing “at pace”. Asked whether the NHS app was working, Johnson’s spokesman said: “We are closely studying the first phase of the rollout and expect to be able to improve the app based on user feedback from the Isle of Wight. As with any tech project of this size, you would expect us to keep all options under review to make sure the app is as effective as possible.”