Extra walk-in tests to fight off second wave
HUNDREDS of new walk-in Covid-19 testing sites will open across England as NHS Test and Trace prepares for a possible winter surge.
The aim is for people in towns and cities to be within a 30-minute walk of a centre by the end of October, while those in rural areas should be within a 30-minute drive.
Local health teams will also recruit more staff in the run-up to colder months, when people spend more time indoors allowing Covid-19 to spread easier.
Almost 200,000 people have been identified by NHS contact tracers and asked to self-isolate since the service launched seven weeks ago.
Chair of NHS Test and Trace Baroness Dido Harding praised the system and said it was now reaching around 78 per cent of contacts, up from 72 per cent the week before. “We have tested over 2.3 million new people for coronavirus, identified nearly 39,000 with the virus and reached almost 200,000 people to stop the virus from spreading further,” she said.
However data shows Boris Johnson’s pledge to have all in-person tests back within 24 hours is still not being met.
Meanwhile, patients on hospital waiting lists are in “limbo” due to a lack of communication, warns former Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt.
He told NHS boss Sir Simon Stevens in a letter: “Patients report a failure by the NHS to let them know what is going to happen to their treatment going forward and put their fears to rest. There is going to be a huge backlog and people with illnesses – sometimes life-threatening – need to know where they stand.”