Labour asks how Hancock’s coronavirus testing pledge will be met
The government is under pressure to explain how it will increase its coronavirus testing ten-fold by the end of the month.
Yesterday health secretary Matt Hancock said he wants 100,000 tests to be carried out every day, up from the 10,000 currently.
However the Labour Party has said there is little detail on how this huge increase can be achieved or what sort of tests will be made available.
Shadow chancellor John McDonnell told the BBC a breakdown of the type of tests that would make up the 100,000 figure was needed, and he urged the health secretary to provide more detail.
Hancock told the BBC the 100,000 figure was a “goal” for the system, including tests for patients and NHS staff. He added: “We’ve got an awful lot of work to do to make it happen.”
The health secretary said it was possible almost all of the 100,000 figure would be swab tests but it would include 500 antibody blood tests, to detect whether someone has already had coronavirus.
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The government has come under fire for the level of rates compared to other OECD countries.
At the daily press conference last night, Hancock said he was “going to level with” people and that the reason the UK is far behind countries such as Germany, because “we didn’t go into this crisis with a huge diagnostics industry”.
He also unveiled a five-point plan to increase the rate of testing in three weeks. His plan is underpinned by a partnership with private sector companies, including Amazon and Boots, to open new testing laboratories across the country.
Five trial labs have already been set up and 5,0000 NHS staff have been tested at these facilities.
London’s Nightingale Hospital will officially open letter, less than two weeks after work began on transforming the Excel conference and exhibition centre into a hospital.
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