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The NHS is set to alter its approach to testing for coronavirus, with only those at hospitals to be formally examined.

Checking for the virus will be halted at walk-in centres and drive-through stations and home-testing will end. Early investigations will now be confined to patients admitted to hospital.

Government chief medical adviser Prof Chris Whitty said:"It is no longer necessary for us to identify every case and we will move from having testing mainly done in homes and outpatients and walk-in centres, to a situation where people who are remaining at home do not need testing.

(Image: Getty Images)

"We will pivot all the testing capacity to identify those in hospitals who have symptoms so we can pick them up early, make sure we treat them well and ensure they don't pass on the virus to other people in hospitals.

"So there will be a change in hospital and other testing systems."

He said the risk rating from coronavirus has been raised to high and more people would be advised to self-isolate if they displayed any sign of symtoms.

Explaining the advice to self-isolate for seven days if people have a cough or temperature, Prof Whitty acknowledged it was “something which will interfere with their lives and interfere with their work and their social life in quite significant ways”.

Prof Whitty said people from now on would be tested "irrespective of their travel history" if they are showing severe symptoms.

Sir Patrick Vallance, the Government’s chief scientific adviser, said the actual number of people infected in the UK at the moment could be between 5,000 and 10,000.