HALTON Borough Council has still not received 10,000 rapid coronavirus tests promised by the government three weeks ago.

The tests, known as lateral flow tests and able to provide a result within 30 minutes, were due to be sent to the council as part of plans to increase testing capacity and identify people with asymptomatic Covid-19.

However, while the the test kits were supposed to arrive by November 13, HBC said on Monday that they had still not been delivered.

The spokesman said: “We have started to receive some equipment, but haven’t received the test kits themselves – we are told their arrival is imminent.

“In the meantime, we are continuing with our preparations to ensure everything is ready and in place to go live with testing of our first cohorts in the coming days.

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.

Despite this hold-up, a separate scheme for testing care home visitors with lateral flow kits is also set to start this week.