Daily Mirror

Children get turned away as test sites are swamped

- BY MATTHEW YOUNG

PARENTS yesterday blasted the Government’s shambolic Covid-19 testing system amid another day of chaos across the country.

In some areas, huge early morning queues formed at walk-in centres. In others people were simply turned away.

Tests were not available in some of England’s worst affected areas.

Almost every person hoping for a test in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, was there with a child who had caught an illness at school.

Marie Lane, 42, of Wickford, Essex, was there with daughter Ellen, five, and said: “The whole thing’s just terribly organised.”

In East Ham, East London, staff said they did not have enough kits.

CAPACITY

They turned away Angel Osei, seven, of Tooting, South London, there with sister Jessica Bekoe, 20.

Jessica said: “We couldn’t book on the website and we were told we could go to East Ham, where no booking was needed – only to be told the opposite when we arrived.”

Two walk-in sites in Sheffield are now appointmen­t-only “due to lab testing reaching national capacity”.

Opening hours at several test sites in Lancashire were reduced after non-locals joined the queues.

The Department of Health and Social Care said it was “providing tests at an unpreceden­ted scale”.

It added: “We’re doing everything possible... including by bringing in new labs that can process tens of thousands of tests a day, opening new test sites, and trialling new rapid tests that will give results on the spot.”

 ??  ?? ORDEAL Marie and little Ellen tried to get test
ORDEAL Marie and little Ellen tried to get test
 ??  ?? DENIED Jessica & little sis Angel
DENIED Jessica & little sis Angel

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