Sajid Javid announces he’s tested positive for coronavirus

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The Health Secretary has written to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) and called for a “rapid high-level” review to protect travellers. PCR tests cost around £75 and are used to detect coronavirus on the tonsils and inside the nose.

In his letter, Mr Javid said: “The cost of PCR testing can act as a barrier, especially for families who want to travel together.

“It is not right if some families experience yet further disruption unnecessarily because of practices in the market for private travel tests.”

His letter comes amid complaints of significant price differences for travellers and the levels of service from more than 400 firms who offer the tests.

Mr Javid continued: “It is for these reasons that I am writing to you to ask you to conduct a rapid high-level review of the market for PCR travel tests to assess what action might be taken to ensure that consumers do not face unnecessarily high costs or other poor provision.”

The Health Secretary – who recently took over from Matt Hancock – called for immediate advice on how to “stamp out any exploitative behaviour in this market”.

He urged the CMA to “take action to prevent such exploitation where you can under your existing powers”.

Mr Javid also tweeted: “People should be able to go on holiday, whether it is to see family or just to relax, without fearing excessive fees for PCR tests.”

A spokesperson for the watchdog told Sky News: “We are aware of concerns about the evolving markets for COVID-19 tests for international travellers.

“We look forward to providing the Secretary of State with advice on how best to ensure that travellers have access to tests that are affordable and reliable.”

Many companies have not got full accreditation despite offering Covid tests.

But some MPs and travel firms have put pressure on the Government to scrap the costly tests and use the cheaper lateral flow tests.

Tory MP Huw Merriman told BBC Radio 4’s PM programme that lateral flow tests were “much cheaper”.

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He said: “It’s effective, and then if that tests positive for Covid – and very few do when they come from abroad back to this country – then have a PCR and then have that sequencing.

“And the reason I say that is because lateral flow tests can be third of the price.”

To date, more than six million people across the UK have tested positive for coronavirus virus.

More than 130,000 people have died after testing positive for the virus.

The UK has had one of the most successful vaccine rollouts with around 47,036,796 people receiving their first vaccine.

A further 39,429,468 have received their second dose.

On Saturday, Professor Neil Ferguson, a British epidemiologist from Imperial College London, said the days of forced lockdowns have probably passed amid falling case numbers.

Speaking to the Times, Professor Ferguson said that, although lockdowns could not be ruled out, draconian style crisis measures would be “unlikely”.

“I think it’s unlikely we will need a new lockdown or even social distancing measures of the type we’ve had so far,” he said.

Professor Ferguson, whose modelling informed the first national lockdown in March 2020, said the epidemic is “going to transition quite quickly in a few months to be more something we live with and manage through vaccination rather than crisis measures.”

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