HALTON Borough Council is due to start testing care home visitors for Covid-19 this week in an effort to allow people to see their loved ones again.

The council announced last week that it would use its allocation of lateral flow tests, which can provide a result in 30 minutes, to test visitors to the borough’s care homes.

This would mean that people could arrive, be tested and, if they were negative for Covid-19, enter the care home and see their relative.

Many care homes have restricted or even banned visiting during the pandemic over fears of a repeat of the first wave, when large numbers of care homes suffered major outbreaks and several deaths from the virus.

At the same time, concern has grown for care home residents’ mental health as they remain isolated for long periods of time, particularly those with alzheimer’s.

However, the council has not revealed when exactly the testing will start or even if its allocation of 10,000 lateral flow tests have arrived.

The Department of Health and Social Care revealed last week that a “logistics issue” had delayed delivery of around 350,000 of the 500,000 tests promised nationally.