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Coronavirus: Evening update as test with 20-minute results trialled
May 22, 2020
Here are five things you need to know about the coronavirus outbreak this Thursday evening. We'll have another update on Friday morning.
1. 'Results in 20 minutes' test being trialled
A new swab test - which tells people within 20 minutes whether they currently have coronavirus - has begun a six-week trial, Health Secretary Matt Hancock said at No 10's daily briefing. Time is saved because the swabs do not need to be sent to a laboratory. The news comes on the same day the government announced it had secured a supply of antibody tests - which identifies those who have had the virus at any stage - with health and care staff the first to undergo them.
Image copyright Reuters
2. Four phases to easing of Scottish lockdown
Nicola Sturgeon has bided her time - but has now announced that restrictions will be relaxed slightly in Scotland from next Thursday as the first step in the nation's "route map" out of lockdown. Specific dates have not been set for the subsequent phases - but parents and pupils have been told that schools will not reopen until the new school year begins on 11 August.
3. U-turn on NHS fees for overseas staff
It was the political row of the day. Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer and some Tory backbenchers had called for NHS and care workers to be exempt from paying the health immigration surcharge that charges non-EU migrants £400 a year to use the NHS. Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Boris Johnson had defended the charge but within hours the announcement came from Downing Street that an exemption would be granted.
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