UK ‘on track’ to reach 100,000 coronavirus tests target by Thursday
Health secretary Matt Hancock has said the UK is on track to reach 100,000 coronavirus tests a day by Thursday, despite only testing 37,000 people yesterday.
Speaking at today’s press briefing, Hancock said “we are broadly where we expected to be” on testing.
There were 37,024 Covid-19 tests administered yesterday, which was a marked increase from just 18,000 last Tuesday.
The increase has been attributed to the government opening up the testing regime to England’s 10m essential workers.
“You’ve seen a big increase over the weekend to 37,000 tests yesterday, now we are also enhancing and making it easier to access how you get hold of tests,” he said.
Hancock guaranteed at the start of the month that the UK would hit 100,000 coronavirus tests a day, after criticism about how few were being administered.
The health secretary’s initiative to increase testing numbers included working with the private sector to open up a swathe of testing laboratories across the country.
There are now 40 of these testing centres, along with a number of drive-through testing operations for NHS and essential workers.
Hancock said it was essential to increase testing numbers to 100,000 to implement the government’s “test, track and trace” app.
The app, expected to be up in three weeks, will allow people to see if they have been in contact with someone who may have coronavirus.
People who have been in close contact with a potential Covid-19 spreader will then be able to order a coronavirus test for themselves.
Hancock said: “Now 100,000 tests a day is a big enough testing system to start test, track and trace, but if it’s bigger, then the system can work on a higher number of cases and be more effective.”