Currently the first 5 symptomatic residents in a care home setting are tested to provide confirmation of whether if there is an outbreak.
However, as lab capacity increases every day the government is expanding testing to include all care home residents who develop symptoms.
- All symptomatic care residents will be tested for COVID-19 as testing capacity continues to increase
- All patients discharged from hospital to be tested before going into care homes as a matter of course
- All social care staff who need a test will now have access to one with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to contact all 30,000 care providers in the coming days to offer tests
You can find full information here (opens in a new tab)