All UK children to get free COVID-19 test kits

LONDON: Britain's government says families with children in school will be provided with free coronavirus home test kits as part of plans for schools to reopen beginning on March 8.

Free, twice-weekly tests will be provided to children's households regardless of whether anyone has symptoms, officials said Sunday.

The tests will also be offered to adults working with schools, including bus drivers.

Education Secretary Gavin Williamson said testing family members will provide "another layer of reassurance to parents and education staff that schools are as safe as possible."

 Schools in England have been closed except to children of key workers since January. Britain is also racing ahead with its vaccination program, with almost 20 million in the U.K. who have now had a first jab.

Some 2 million people aged 60 to 63 in England will start getting invitations to book their shots beginning on Monday.

The government aims to offer a first jab to all adults by the end of July. Britain has Europe's worst virus death toll at nearly 123,000 dead.