London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Sep 18, 2025

Essential workers in England to get virus tests

All essential workers in England - and members of their household - are now eligible for coronavirus tests, Health Secretary Matt Hancock has said.

About 10 million key workers who need to book a test to see whether they have the virus will be able to do so on the government's website from Friday.

At the daily Downing Street briefing, Mr Hancock said the move was "part of getting Britain back on her feet".

He added 18,000 people will be hired to trace contacts of those infected.

The Welsh government previously outlined plans to expand testing to key workers, such as teachers and food delivery drivers, and Northern Ireland's health minister has announced the nation's testing programme is being expanded to include front-line workers in the private sector.

Scotland is prioritising tests for NHS staff and has yet to announce any expansion of testing to key workers.

Addressing the UK government's "challenging" target of 100,000 tests a day by the end of the month, Mr Hancock said capacity for carrying out tests had accelerated "ahead of our plans" to more than 50,000 a day.

"Our ultimate goal is that everyone who could benefit from a test gets a test," he said.

The government is also introducing home test kits as well as mobile testing sites, which will be operated with the support of the armed forces, Mr Hancock said.

Key workers who are unable to access the government's website will still be able to apply for a test, as employers are able to book on behalf of their staff from Thursday.

Mr Hancock said those who qualify for testing would be based on an updated list of essential workers and, according to the prime minister's official spokesman, would apply to about 10 million people.

The whole process will be free for those being tested.

Once people have entered their details online they will then be sent a text or email inviting them to book an appointment - with the test results issued by text, and a help desk available to help with any queries, Mr Hancock explained.

The test involves taking a swab from the nose or throat.

Hospitals have been carrying out tests, along with a network of about 30 drive-through centres in car parks, at airports and sports grounds.

But the drive-through centres have not always been in convenient locations, which may have discouraged people from getting tested.

Mr Hancock also detailed plans for a network of contact tracers that will be used when lockdown is lifted, insisting a process of "test, track and trace" would be "vital" to stop a second peak of the virus.

The hope is that regional outbreaks of the virus can be kept under control by isolating people with the virus, and then tracing their contacts and isolating them.

Mr Hancock said infrastructure would be put in place so that contact tracing can be rolled out on a "large scale".

He added that the 18,000 people being recruited to help with contact tracing included 3,000 clinicians and public health experts.

On testing, Mr Hancock said that capacity had reached 51,000 per day, although Thursday's figures showed only 23,560 tests were carried out - which is still far short of the 100,000 daily target.

Figures released by the Department for Health and Social Care on Thursday showed a further 616 people have died with the virus in UK hospitals, bringing the total number of deaths to 18,738.

An analysis of the published figures by the BBC has confirmed that at least 103 health workers have now died with coronavirus, 65 of whom were black, Asian or from a minority ethnic background.

Also at the briefing, Prof John Newton, co-ordinator of the UK's coronavirus testing programme, said the government was "on track" to reach 100,000 tests a day by the end of April and that new types of test - including ones that do not rely on reagents in short supply - would help to reach the target.

He added that there would soon be 48 "pop-up facilities" that can travel around the country to where they were needed most, while a UK rapid testing consortium was working on antibody tests that people could use at home to tell them whether they have had the virus in the past.

Addressing the coronavirus lockdown, the health secretary said the "message remains the same" and the government's tests for lifting restrictions had not yet been met.

He added that the plan set out by Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, who said the lifting of the coronavirus lockdown is likely to be phased in Scotland, was "very similar" to the government's approach.

Mr Hancock said: "We set out the five tests that are needed for us to make changes to the lockdown measures and the Scottish government's proposals are based on those tests."

He added: "The UK-wide approach is the best way to go."

Speaking at the same Downing Street briefing, UK chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance said he thought London was ahead of the rest of the country in suppressing the disease, and that in two or three weeks "you might expect to see some differences across the country".

He added that social distancing measures had reduced the rate of infection "dramatically".

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
US Tech Giants Pledge Billions to UK AI Infrastructure Following Starmer's Call
Saudi Arabia cracks down on music ‘lounges’ after conservative backlash
DeepMind and OpenAI Achieve Gold at ‘Coding Olympics’ in AI Milestone
SEC Allows Public Companies to Block Investors from Class-Action Lawsuits
Saudi Arabia Signs ‘Strategic Mutual Defence’ Pact with Pakistan, Marking First Arab State to Gain Indirect Access to Nuclear Strike Capabilities in the Region
Federal Reserve Cuts Rates by Quarter Point and Signals More to Come
Effective and Impressive Generation Z Protest: Images from the Riots in Nepal
European manufacturers against ban on polluting cars: "The industry may collapse"
Sam Altman sells the 'Wedding Estate' in Hawaii for 49 million dollars
Trump: Cancel quarterly company reports and settle for reporting once every six months
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
US Launches New Pilot Program to Accelerate eVTOL Air Taxi Deployment
Christian Brueckner Released from German Prison after Serving Unrelated Sentence
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
Hong Kong Industry Group Calls for HK$20 Billion Support Fund to Ease Property Market Stress
Joe Biden’s Post-Presidency Speaking Fees Face Weak Demand amid Corporate Reluctance
Charlie Kirk's murder will break the left's hateful cancel tactics
Kash Patel erupts at ‘buffoon’ Sen. Adam Schiff over Russiagate: ‘You are the biggest fraud’
Homeland Security says Emmy speech ‘fanning the flames of hatred’ after Einbinder’s ‘F— ICE’ remark
Charlie Kirk’s Alleged Assassin Tyler Robinson Faces Death Penalty as Charges Formally Announced
Actor, director, environmentalist Robert Redford dies at 89
The conservative right spreads westward: a huge achievement for 'Alternative for Germany' in local elections
JD Vance Says There Is “No Unity” with Those Who Celebrate Charlie Kirk’s Killing, and he is right!
Trump sues the 'New York Times' for an astronomical sum of 15 billion dollars
Florida Hospital Welcomes Its Largest-Ever Baby: Annan, Nearly Fourteen Pounds at Birth
U.S. and Britain Poised to Finalize Over $10 Billion in High-Tech, Nuclear and Defense Deals During Trump State Visit
China Finds Nvidia Violated Antitrust Laws in Mellanox Deal, Deepens Trade Tensions with US
US Air Force Begins Modifications on Qatar-Donated Jet Amid Plans to Use It as Air Force One
Pope Leo Warns of Societal Crisis Over Mega-CEO Pay, Citing Tesla’s Proposed Trillion-Dollar Package
Poland Green-Lights NATO Deployment in Response to Major Russian Drone Incursion
Elon Musk Retakes Lead as World’s Richest After Brief Ellison Surge
U.S. and China Agree on Framework to Shift TikTok to American Ownership
London Daily Podcast: London Massive Pro Democracy Rally, Musk Support, UK Economic Data and Premier League Results Mark Eventful Weekend
This Week in AI: Meta’s Superintelligence Push, xAI’s Ten Billion-Dollar Raise, Genesis AI’s Robotics Ambitions, Microsoft Restructuring, Amazon’s Million-Robot Milestone, and Google’s AlphaGenome Update
Le Pen Tightens the Pressure on Macron as France Edges Toward Political Breakdown
Musk calls for new UK government at huge pro-democracy rally in London, but Britons have been brainwashed to obey instead of fighting for their human rights
Elon Musk responds to post calling for the murder of Erika Kirk, widow of Charlie Kirk: 'Either we fight back or they will kill us'
Czech Republic signs €1.34 billion contract for Leopard 2A8 main battle tanks with delivery from 2028
USA: Office Depot Employees Refused to Print Poster in Memory of Charlie Kirk – and Were Fired
Proposed U.S. Bill Would Allow Civil Suits Against Judges Who Release Repeat Violent Offenders
Penske Media Sues Google Over “AI Overviews,” Claiming It Uses Journalism Without Consent and Destroys Traffic
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
French Debt Downgrade Piles Pressure on Macron’s New Prime Minister
US and UK Near Tech, Nuclear and Whisky Deals Ahead of Trump Trip
One in Three Europeans Now Uses TikTok, According to the Chinese Tech Giant
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
NATO Deploys ‘Eastern Sentry’ After Russian Drones Violate Polish Airspace
Anesthesiologist Left Operation Mid-Surgery to Have Sex with Nurse
Tens of Thousands of Young Chinese Get Up Every Morning and Go to Work Where They Do Nothing
×