Most people in England will need to pay for testing for COVID infection as free testing is set to end from Friday. Reports from the ministry confirmed that from 1 April, free symptomatic testing would be available only for patients admitted to hospitals when required and for people living or working in “high-risk settings”.

Symptomatic testing would still be continued for those who were already eligible for COVID-19 treatments in the community on account of being at higher risk of serious illness on getting infected, while free asymptomatic testing could be availed by people in particularly high-risk settings such as care home staff and patient-facing staff in the NHS, in specific timings, especially during high risk of spreading of the infection.

The decision comes after the UK government’s plan to “live with COVID” which states that the virus needs to be handled and managed like any other infectious disease such as flu, concluding that only people at high risk would be offered free testing for COVID-19. (The Guardian, March 29, 2022)