The government has issued a statement clarifying who will be able to get free Covid testing from April 1, Friday, when mass PCR and lateral flow testing is brought to an end. The free testing available to a small number of groups will be symptomatic - meaning that those taking tests must already be showing symptoms.
Free symptomatic testing is being limited to patients in hospital, people who are eligible for Covid-19 treatments because they are at a higher risk of getting severely ill from the virus, and individuals 'who live or work in high-risk closed settings'.
Ahead of Health Secretary Sajid Javid's statement, published this evening, March 29, Greater Manchester's health leaders have expressed serious concerns about the ending of free testing - especially for those unable to afford to buy kits during a spiralling cost of living crisis, in a region disproportionately hit by the virus over the course of the pandemic. The new policy has then come several days delayed, the Manchester Evening News understands, after the Department of Health and Social Care redrafted elements of the forthcoming testing protocols at the end of last week.
