Mum causes outrage for lying about being a key worker to get COVID-19 test

21 September 2020, 09:09

By Alice Dear

The woman said she did not feel bad for lying in order to get tested for coronavirus.

As reports continue across the country of people struggling to get tested for COVID-19, one woman has admitted to lying about her job in order to bag a test.

The mother, called Jade, appeared on BBC Breakfast last week, where she admitted to a reporter outside a testing centre that she lied about being a key worker in order to get tested.

She told the BBC: "I put in I was unemployed, as soon as you clicked it there was no site available.

"As soon as I tried to change the unemployed bit to a key worker that’s how I got this."

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When the reporter replied: "Matt Hancock is saying they need to prioritise tests for key workers because there are no longer enough tests to go around", the woman said she did not feel bad.

She explained: "I'm keeping my family safe and everyone else safe".

She went on to add: "I think there should be a lot more tests or we’re all going to get it".

The interview has caused outrage online, as people react on Twitter.

One angry viewer wrote: "If she is unemployed there is no need for her to go out why was she having the test in the first place as she doesn't need to isolate from work. She should now be made to pay for that test", while another added: "She lied to get a test! How selfish. How disgusting. She didn't need a test to make her family safe, just sensible precautions."

Others have defended her, however, with one person commenting online: "I don’t blame her, she’s worried for her health and that of her family. She shouldn’t be in this situation.

"The villain in all this is the Government. Our testing capability is shocking."

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