A council has written to ministers after it was forced to step in to alleviate a shortage of COVID testing kits.

Sandwell MBC's leader, Cllr Kerrie Carmichael, and cabinet member for health, Cllr Suzanne Hartwell, said the council's public health team had been forced to resort to delivering lateral flow tests to pharmacies as an ‘emergency measure' when central supplies failed to be delivered after Christmas.