Frontline NHS heroes in England to begin coronavirus testing this weekend

Doctors and nurses fighting the Covid-19 battle in England’s hospitals will be undergoing coronavirus testing starting from this weekend and ambulance paramedics will be next.

NHS heroes will begin being tested for coronavirus this weekend.

Medics have been pleading for the coronavirus tests to be made available to hospital workers for weeks.

Doctors and nurses warned the frontline fight was being impaired by staff being forced to self-isolate over suspected Covid-19 symptoms – but there were not enough tests available to confirm their diagnoses.

However at a Downing Street news conference on Friday, senior Cabinet Minister Michael Gove said hundreds of antigen tests – which check whether people currently have the disease – would finally be given to frontline staff this weekend.

He delivered the daily Number 10 press conference last night after both Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Health Minister Matt Hancock tested positive for coronavirus.

Public Health England’s chief medical officer Professor Chris Whitty yesterday confirmed he too would be self-isolating after he began experiencing Covid-19 symptoms.

Mr Gove said testing of frontline staff would escalate ‘dramatically’ next week.