Keyworker covid tests all gone in under an hour

For the second day running demand has been heavy on the government's website

A drive in coronavirus testing centre in Liverpool
Published 25th Apr 2020
Last updated 25th Apr 2020

The government's new Covid-19 tests for key workers in England who show symptoms of the virus have all been taken within an hour on Saturday morning.

16,000 were booked in on Friday, the first day of operations, and the site had to be shut down after just a few hours.

It reopened for a short time on Friday evening before a message was put up that it was to start taking bookings again from 8am on Saturday.

That availability lasted less than an hour for England, with all slots taken by 8.55am.

The government's extended the testing to all key workers, not just NHS staff, this includes supermarket workers, police and the fire service, teachers and charities.

More test centres are being set-up and more slots are expected to become available.

Home testing kits, which all went within minutes on Friday, are still not available again.

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