All keyworkers caring for young children invited for free instant Covid test in Milton Keynes

MK Council testing centre at Central Milton Keynes Library is open until 7pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays and from 9.30am to 4pm on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

The scheme tests local workers from within the police, fire services and frontline council staff. It now includes all key workers in early years settings. No appointment is needed, but people must show ID.

The scheme is only open to people who are not showing any symptoms of Covid as it is aiming to trace asymptomatic carriers who could be spreading the virus without realising.

Anyone with one or more of these symptoms – a high temperature, a new, continuous cough, or a loss or change to sense of smell or taste – should book a test at nhs.uk/coronavirus or by calling 119.

"Around one in three people who are infected with Covid-19 have no symptoms and could be spreading the disease without knowing it. Broadening testing to identify key workers showing no symptoms will mean finding positive cases more quickly, which helps break chains of transmission," said a council spokesman.

Lateral flow tests are a new kind of technology that can be used to test a higher proportion of asymptomatic people and do not require a laboratory to process the test. Results are given within minutes, while people wait.

Extensive clinical evaluation from Public Health England and the University of Oxford show lateral flow tests do not detect all positive cases, but they can be helpful as part of a mass testing programme to identify

Milton Keynes Director of Public Health Vicky Head said: “In Milton Keynes our transmission rates are serious and there’s no single hotspot or outbreak locally that’s driving this – it’s general person to person transmission that we can all help to control. One in three people with COVID-19 have no symptoms and could be spreading it without realising it."