Concerns have been raised over a shortage of lateral flow tests in rural areas around the UK.

Some pharmacists worry many people will test themselves less often due to having to pay for lateral flow tests.

Cor example in Wales, only people suffering from Covid symptoms can order free tests online, until the end of June.

The Welsh government has said the changes are part of the process of moving towards living safely with Covid.

e.G. 10 pharmacies across Wales, eight reported they had little - if any - LFTs in stock for the public.

The only two pharmacies reporting a healthy supply were in Cardiff and Newport.

If you think about somewhere like west Wales, there aren't that many pharmacies in a 10-mile radius," said Richard Evans from the Royal Pharmaceutical Society in Wales.

"That is already quite a way for people to travel. "But if you go the big towns, Swansea or Cardiff, there may be two, three or four pharmacies, so there's more of a chance of getting them."

Lowri Pugh is a pharmacist in Abersoch, Gwynedd, told the bbc finding lateral flow tests was already proving to be a problem for some.

"People seem quite frustrated, they don't understand why they can't have them for free," she said.

"Especially the older people, who may not be able to go on the internet and online quite so easily, they will be more worried." She believes it was a mistake to make it more difficult for people to get hold of Covid tests at a time when case numbers are on the rise. "£3 is a lot for one test when someone is used to getting them for free," she said. "So that will have an effect on how many people do the tests, and it will just be more difficult to get hold of them."

The Welsh Health Minister Eluned Morgan has said she was reluctant to wind down the testing and admitted it was difficult to fund testing levels with the UK government ending free lateral flow tests in England from 1 April.

Prof Rhys Jones of Aberystwyth University says the changes of the cost of lateral flow tests will inevitably lead to fewer people testing themselves regularly.

"What has been important throughout this pandemic has been this emphasis, increasingly perhaps, on personal responsibility," he said. "It will make it more difficult, I would say, for people to be responsible - they can't be responsible because they can't test to see exactly what is wrong with them - whether it's a cold, flu or coronavirus."