A MAJOR change to the Covid rulebook will come into force from next week.
It will affect how people access testing, which has been free for the past two years.
From April 1, free Covid testing will no longer be offered by the Government to people in England, with the rest of the UK following suit.
Instead, the public will have to pay if they want to confirm if they are Covid positive.
It’s part of Boris Johnson’s plan to “live with Covid” and move the nation forward without self isolation and restrictions.
The Government website says: “The Test & Trace programme cost £15.7 billion in 2021/22.
“With Omicron now the dominant variant and less severe, levels of high immunity across the country and a range of strategies in place including vaccines… the value for taxpayers’ money is now less clear.
Read more on coronavirus
“Free testing should rightly be focused on at-risk groups.”
People will no longer be able to get a free PCR test on the NHS, unless they are considered high risk.
And lateral flow tests, which are less accurate but can be done at home in less than 30 minutes, will no longer be available for free.
The kits have become crucial for households to diagnose Covid fast, including when someone is not showing symptoms of the virus.
Again, only a small number of at-risk groups will be able to get free rapid test boxes (described below).
With Covid infection rates high, people in England have been scrambling to get their hands on tests before the new rule comes into effect.
However, they are being discouraged to order them unless they are high-risk.
Moving the order process forward comes to a dead end for many, as the website says there are no boxes available.
There has been confusion within the NHS as to whether tests will still be free for staff.
The NHS Confederation said that workers may be forced to fork out about £50 a month for tests if they have to pay themselves, as it called for clarity over the issue.
The Department of Health and Social Care said that more details would be set out “shortly”.
