THE Government has pledged to roll out coronavirus testing to anyone over the age of five who has symptoms of the illness.

The Heath Secretary Matt Hancock has been delivering the daily Covid-19 briefing.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has set a target for a daily capacity of testing of 200,000 a day ny the end of this month.

Up until now testing in England and Scotland has been limited to people with symptoms who are key workers and their families, hospital patients, care home residents, over-65s and those who need to leave home to work.

Now all members of the public over the age of five who reports symptoms will be eligible.

Mr Hancock said 21,000 people had been recruited to conduct contact-tracing in England, including 7,500 healthcare workers.

People who have come into contact with someone with the virus are tracked down and potentially asked to self-isolate.

A pilot contact-tracing app on the Isle of Wight has had mixed results: it lets people know if they may have come into contact with a person with coronavirus, but does not let them know if that person actually tested positive or not.The Local Government Association (LGA) has urged the Government to tap into the expertise of local authorities with staff on the ground as lockdown restrictions are eased.'The Government’s expansion of testing should also make use of this local knowledge and expertise,' said an LGA spokesperson.'COVID-19 is best understood as a pattern of local outbreaks, rather than a national pandemic with a similar impact in every community. To help councils understand where the outbreaks are happening and be able to act quickly to contain them, government needs to share vital and up-to-date data with them alongside other agencies. This also needs to be accompanied by consistent and ongoing funding.'While the expected nationwide rollout of the NHS COVID-19 app will be useful, there are some areas in different communities where an app simply cannot reach. This is where councils can step in and make the most of their role as local public health leaders, but they need all the tools and resources at their disposal to help do so.'