THE government's new coronavirus test and tracing service is being rolled out online.

The government is asking people who have had a positive test for COVID-19 (or their parents or guardians), and those who may have had contact with people who have tested positive, to provide information to help understand and slow the spread of infection.

They will ask for information about your illness, recent activities you did and people you met while you were potentially infectious.

If you are a contact of a person who tested positive, they will ask about your health and provide health advice to keep yourself and others safe.

In England, if you have come into contact with someone who has tested positive for Covid-19 you will be contacted either by text or email and asked to login confidentially to the NHS Test and Trace website, which can be found at contact-tracing.phe.gov.uk

If you are unable to do this online, a call handler will ring you and talk you through what you need to do.

According to the government, the system will initially rely on the public to "act responsibly and follow the guidance" if told to self-isolate.

However, if the system of voluntary compliance does not work, ministers will be able to bring in tougher measures which could see people potentially subjected to spot-checks and fines if they are not following the rules.

A contact tracing app in is being trialled on the Isle of Wight but it has been delayed by several weeks.

Leaders have not set a launch date.

Wales's contact-tracing plan is set to go live on Monday, while a pilot contact-tracing programme began in Northern Ireland at the start of April and has been ramped up to a seven-day operation which will last for at least a year, health leaders there have said.