A lancet for pricking a user's skin, the lancet comprising a body of a substantially rigid plastics material, a needle having one end embedded in said body, leaving the other end including a sharpened needle tip to protrude from the body； and a flexible plastics cover covering the entire exposed length of the needle, the cover being formed of such material and with such dimensions that an axial force applied to the cover relative to the body causes at least an axial portion of the cover to concertina along the needle, thereby exposing the needle tip.
