North Yorkshire was not included in a government list today of local authority areas that will receive mass coronavirus tests, which deliver results in less than an hour.

The Department of Health and Social Care announced a batch of more than 600,000 quick turnaround test kits will be sent to 67 local authorities — about half of the total in England.

The first 10,000 will be sent this week and will be followed by further weekly allocations. Each area will decide which priority groups to test.

Some parts of Yorkshire, including Calderdale, Kingston upon Hull and East Riding of Yorkshire were included.

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But North Yorkshire was not on the list.

Cllr Carl Les, leader of North Yorkshire County Council, told the Stray Ferret council bosses will discuss tomorrow whether or not to bid to be included in the next phase of the mass testing programme.

He added the county would be a “good experiment” for the government because it is so big.

Cllr Les said:

The government said the areas chosen for the first phase of the rollout were based on locations with a "local prevalence of covid" and those that expressed an interest.

Liverpool pilot

Ministers rolled out the first rapid tests in Liverpool last week.

More than 23,000 people were tested in the city across 18 test centres, including Liverpool’s Anfield stadium. Of the number, 154 people tested positive.

Matt Hancock, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, said the rollout was designed to expand testing for those who are asymptomatic. He said: