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COVID-19 testing

Information about who can access COVID-19 testing and in which circumstances.

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Published: 1 April 2022

Last updated: 1 September 2022

Westminster’s COVID-19 test centres are now closed

As part of the government’s Living with COVID plan, free testing is no longer provided for most people in England as of Friday 1 April.  

All of our PCR (symptomatic) test sites and rapid lateral flow (symptom free) test sites are now permanently closed as of Thursday 31 March 2022. These include testing at:

  • Hall Place Test Centre, Hall Place, W2 1NG
  • Church House Conference Centre, Great Smith Street, SW1P 3NZ
  • Soho Housing Office, Broadwick Street, W1F 7AN
  • Lydford Tenants and Residents Hall, Fernhead Road, W9 3EW
  • Greenside Community Centre, Lilestone Street, NW8 8SR

Limited ongoing free COVID-19 testing

As of Wednesday 31 August, limited symptom free testing has been paused due to the drop in COVID-19 transmission. This means that the following testing is no longer available:

  • limited PCR (symptomatic) testing for a small number of at-risk groups, including patients in hospital where a PCR test is needed for their care, people eligible for community COVID-19 treatments because they are at high risk from COVID-19, care home residents and people living or working in some high-risk settings
  • Rapid lateral flow (symptom free) testing in some high-risk settings such as care homes, hospices and prisons

Rapid lateral flow (symptom free) tests will continue to be available to buy from pharmacies and supermarkets, including online so that we can all manage our own risk and the risks to those we come into contact with

As of Friday 1 April, if you have symptoms of a respiratory infection, including COVID-19, and a high temperature or if you feel unwell, please try to stay at home and avoid contact with other people, until you feel well enough to resume normal activities and you no longer have a high temperature.

As of 1 April, if you have a positive COVID-19 test result please try to stay at home and avoid contact with other people for five days, which is when you are most infectious.

Please visit GOV.UK for more information.

Testing for people travelling to or from the UK

If you need proof of a negative coronavirus test to enter another country, you must use a private test provider.