Britain is scaling up coronavirus testing for frontline National Health Service (NHS) staff, with hundreds of tests due to be carried out in coming days and many more next week.
Lauren Anthony reports.
Britain is scaling up coronavirus testing for frontline staff of the country's National Health Service.
Hundreds of tests are due to be carried out in coming days and many more next week, cabinet minister Michael Gove said on Friday (March 27).
(SOUNDBITE) (English) CABINET OFFICE MINISTER, MICHAEL GOVE, SAYING: "Increasing our testing capacity is absolutely crucial in our response to and our fight against coronavirus.
This is a particular priority for those who work in the health and social care sector and are working so hard to keep us all safe.
This will be antigen testing, testing whether people currently have the disease so that our health and social care workers can have security in the knowledge that they are safe to return to work if their test is negative.
These tests will be trialed for people on the frontline starting immediately with hundreds to take place by the end of the weekend, dramatically scaling up next week." The United Kingdom has so far reported at least 759 deaths from the virus.
With the peak of the epidemic in the country expected to come in a few weeks.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson and health minister Matt Hancock are among those who have tested positive.
But Gove said Friday that government ministers would only be tested if they had symptoms.
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