Coronavirus: Government runs out of key worker home test kits within minutes for second straight day

More than 10 million in UK and their households now eligible for Covid-19 tests

Key workers trying to access home coronavirus test kits were told they had all gone, just minutes after the reopening of the government’s online booking system.

The home test kit portal listed test kits as “unavailable” for key workers in England and Wales just 15 minutes after it opened on Saturday morning, according to the BBC.

It came after the portal’s Friday launch saw essential workers being turned away for the day’s allocation of kits half an hour after it opened at 8am.

It was also not possible to book tests at drive-through regional sites in England, Wales and Northern Ireland by 10am, although tests at a drive-through regional site in Scotland were still available, according to the site.

More than 10 million key workers and their households are now eligible for Covid-19 tests as officials race to hit their 100,000-a-day testing target by next Thursday.

A spokesman for the Department of Health said more will be made available from Sunday morning at 8am.

Some 46,000 people tried to book a coronavirus test on Friday, but within two minutes of the website going live all 5,000 tests for people to carry out at home had been booked.

Meanwhile, more than 15,000 appointments for tests at drive-through centres were also taken quickly, forcing the Department of Health to apologise on Twitter “for any inconvenience”.

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NHS England’s medical director, Professor Stephen Powis, urged key workers showing Covid-19 symptoms to book a test.

Asked how many were available on Saturday, he told BBC Breakfast: “We are going at capacity, over 50,000 now. The aim is to get to 100,000 by Thursday.

“The NHS has committed to capacity of 25,000 within NHS laboratories and we are on trajectory for that capacity to be in place.”

Under the expansion of the testing, NHS and social care staff, police officers, teachers, social workers, undertakers, journalists and those who work in supermarkets and food production are among those now eligible.

Test booking slots or home testing kits will become available from 8am each day, the Department of Health has said, with their release staggered throughout the day.

Additional reporting by PA