Superdrug will be the cheapest place to buy coronavirus lateral flow tests when Brits start having to pay for them, the pharmacist has said.
Last week prime minister Boris Johnson confirmed the end of all legal Covid restrictions, including the need to self isolate if you test positive for the virus.
He also said that from April 1, free lateral flow tests will no longer be made available to non-vulnerable people, and that most Brits will need to pay.
Today, Superdrug announced that it would sell a single lateral flow test for £1.99 and a pack of five for £9.79.
The only other pharmacy to announce its prices is Boots , where a single test costs £5.99 and a pack of four costs £17. The cost of a one test will be cut to £2.50 in April.
The Mirror has approached all other major pharmacies to ask if they would sell lateral flow tests after April 1, and for how much.
Wells Pharmacy said it was still debating, while Lloyds Pharmacy, Rowlands, Tesco Pharmacy and Day Lewis have not commented.
Several European countries have limits on how much a shop can charge for a lateral flow test, but the UK does not.
For example, in France tests sell for as little as £1, while in Spain no retailer can charge more than £2.45.
Many Brits have started stockpiling lateral flow tests before the new charges come in, resulting in delivery slots for tests being completely booked out at points last week.
How the new testing system will work
Anyone with Covid symptoms after April 1 who wants to get a test to confirm whether they have the virus will have to pay for it .
Asymptomatic tests reportedly won’t be made available on a routine basis for NHS or care workers all the time - only as and when needed.
However, they will be available for care home workers.
England’s guidance for staff and students in schools to do regular lateral flow testing will be removed imminently.
People will also no longer be able to get more than one LFT box in a 72-hour period, whereas it was previously just 24 hours.
The government is scrapping free lateral flow tests to save money.
Boris Johnson has said the "biggest testing programme per person of any large country in the world" came at a"vast cost".
He added: "The test, trace and isolation budget in 2020/21 exceeded the entire budget of the Home Office.
"It cost a further £15.7 billion in this financial year and £2 billion in January alone at the height of the Omicron wave."
On Sunday the PM told the BBC's Sunday Morning programme the UK spent £2billion on testing in January alone.
But the cost will have to be picked up by hard-up households instead, who are already struggling with a cost of living crisis.
The Mirror estimates that a slew of rising prices will leave families £2,000 a year worse off .
Earlier this month it emerged that the typical household will pay a record extra £693 in energy costs due to a rise in a price cap set by regulator Ofgem.
Annual food bills are rising by around £180 , while in April council tax bills will increase by around £100.
National Insurance costs will also rise by 1.25 percentage points - an extra £255.40 a year for someone earning £30,000, and pensioners will also have to pay it for the first time.
