All 5,000 of the home test kits on offer to key workers today on the government’s new test booking system were snapped up within two minutes, No 10 has said.
After the kits ran out, the gov.uk booking system instead directed key workers and their families to arrange a test at a drive-through centre. Around 15,000 were available, the Prime Minister’s spokesman said, but they too were soon all booked up.
The government will increase the supply of home tests so that 18,000 will be available daily by the “end of next week”, he said. Officials initially indicated that 1,000 would be available today, rather than the 5,000 that were eventually ordered.
The spokesman also confirmed that the government is not carrying out eligibility checks to ensure people ordering tests are key workers. “As with many other aspects of the coronavirus response, we would expect the public to respond in good faith,” he said.
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