Actor Ricky Tomlinson has revealed his brother died after contracting coronavirus.
The TV star is encouraging people in his hometown of Liverpool to take part in a mass testing scheme following his sibling's tragic death.
The Royle Family actor, who was born in Lancashire but has lived in Liverpool for most of his life, shared a video plea on the city council's Twitter page.
"Covid is a killer. I know only too well, because one of my brothers has just died from Covid-19," he said.
"Don't let it happen to you, send away for your kit today and do what you're supposed to do. Save your life and your loved ones around you."
The 81-year-old said he used a home testing kit and encouraged others who can't get to a walk-in centre to do the same.
As part of the pilot scheme, which began on November 6, anyone who lives or works in Liverpool can have a coronavirus test, even if they are not showing symptoms.
Figures from Thursday showed 144,548 Liverpool residents had been tested since the scheme began, with many using the lateral flow tests which give results within an hour.
About 2,000 soldiers have been deployed to the city to deliver the tests.
Call The Midwife actor Stephen McGann also shared a video message, saying that his family, including his brother Hollyoaks star Joe McGann, had already been tested as part of the scheme.
He said: My own mum and my big brother Joe have already been down for a test and they’re going to go back next week and have another one and I am absolutely chuffed about that because this mass testing pilot puts Liverpool at the front of testing, at the front of research.
“We are where we should be in public health, all coming together to find out how to do this properly to benefit everybody else.
“I think it’s a brilliant scheme. If you haven’t been down there yet please consider going down.”
Defence secretary Ben Wallace said the scheme was “going in the right direction” but ministers want more people to take part.
The pilot was planned to run for 10 to 14 days initially but is now expected to last until the end of November.
