Rotherham residents asked to get coronavirus test

People in Rotherham are to be asked to get tested for Covid-19, whether they have symptoms or not.

National data continues to indicate infections in the South Yorkshire town are higher than most of the rest of the country, its council said.

Public Health England (PHE) has authorised enhanced testing from next week in a bid to reduce infections.

Teresa Roche said: "We are changing our testing strategy to include people with no symptoms of coronavirus."

Ms Roche, the town's director of public health, said: "We are working with PHE to increase access to test sites to make it easier for people in Rotherham to get tested."

Dr Richard Jenkins, chief executive of Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust, said: "These additional measures are to try to bring down the rate of infections in the borough as quickly as possible.

"More testing will inevitably mean more positive cases, but it gives us a better chance of getting on top of the spread of the virus."

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Council leader Chris Read, said: "I'll be getting one of the tests for people with no symptoms as soon as I can and would urge others to do the same."

More information about how to get a test is to be published later, said the council.