Mass testing for coronavirus will be rolled out to 67 more areas in England, the health secretary has said.
Areas including Nottinghamshire, Yorkshire and parts of the West Midlands will receive new rapid “lateral flow” tests.
Matt Hancock said he hoped the new tests would find Covid-19 “wherever it is, especially in those high prevalence areas”.
It follows the launch of a mass testing programme of people in Liverpool.
The Department of Health and Social Care said it was sending 600,000 of the rapid tests out to directors of public health in 67 areas – listed below – as part of plans to expand asymptomatic testing for Covid-19.
It added that it will be up to individual directors of public health to decide how the tests are used. It means, overall, 70 areas will have the new tests.
News of the scheme came as the head of England’s Test and Trace programme, Baroness Dido Harding, told MPs the service was not a “silver bullet” to tackle coronavirus.
The Conservative peer revealed that preliminary data showed a little over half of people – 54% – who were asked to self-isolate for 14 days said they had complied with the rules.
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