NHS takes battle to virus with 10,000 tests per day
THE NHS is to start testing 10,000 people a day for coronavirus, with the number of confirmed cases set to soar.
As the total in the UK reached 382 and included a sixth death, health officials warned that cases could start to peak within a fortnight.
Around 50 NHS trusts are to embark on “drive-through” testing, to keep the pressure off hospitals despite concern facilities may be swamped by the so-called “worried well”.
Until now, the NHS has been able to test only 2,000 people a day, with some patients saying it has taken nine days to get results back. But the expansion of testing is expected to see a surge in confirmed cases, with fears that Britain could follow trends seen in Italy.
Since testing began on Feb 26, the NHS has swabbed 26,261 people for the virus. At the accelerated rate, more will be tested in three days than in the past two weeks – scaling up testing by 500 per cent.
Health officials expect half of all cases of coronavirus will occur over just three weeks, putting health services under extreme pressure.
Yesterday, Dr Jenny Harries, England’s deputy chief medical officer, said she was expecting the peak to begin within two weeks.
“Within that time we will be likely to advise people with symptoms to self-isolate and we expect the start of the peak to come in that period,” she said.
Compliance with the advice would be “extremely effective in trying to move our epidemic curve forward” towards the warmer months, she added, but cancelling events such as football matches might not have much impact. “The virus will not survive very long outside,” she said. “Many outdoor events particularly are relatively safe.”
Yesterday, Great Ormond Street Hospital cancelled non-essential heart operations for two weeks after a health worker tested positive for the virus.
Jo Churchill, the health minister, said some patients could expect to wait longer for treatment as doctors prioritised those with more serious illnesses.
Ministers said they hoped to remove “all appropriate bureaucracy” requirements on GPS so they could focus on the outbreak.
Matt Hancock, the Health Secretary, said GP appointments would be held via smartphone or video link wherever possible “with immediate effect”.
Doctors have already been told to screen any patients who try to book appointments online, by video or by phone, to assess if they have coronavirus before they set foot in a surgery.
Mr Hancock will chair a Cobra meeting this afternoon to finalise emergency legislation relating to the outbreak. It will include increasing school-class sizes where teachers are off sick, and will make it easier for retired doctors to re-register.
Boris Johnson will then chair a further Cobra committee tomorrow – the first time in the current crisis that Cobra will have met three times in a week.
The drive-through coronavirus testing centres are opening amid fears they may be overwhelmed. NHS Trusts have set up dozens of facilities where drivers can be swabbed inside their cars by nurses wearing full hazmat suits.
Centres have opened in Wolverhampton, Sheffield and London and others in Scotland and Wales.
Health chiefs stressed, however, that patients should only visit after being specifically referred by NHS 111, amid fears that healthy people could turn up and demand to be tested.
In a letter seen by The Daily Telegraph, Dave Thomas, chief nurse at Royal Devon and Exeter Foundation Trust, warned that the facility in the small town of Ottery St Mary should not be seen as a “drop-in centre”.
“People will only drive to the testing facility if they have been given an appointment, following a telephone assessment by NHS 111,” he wrote.
“It is not a drop-in centre and only those who meet nationally agreed criteria for a suspected case will be asked to attend and given an appointment.”
It followed complaints that the NHS had taken up to nine days to return results for some people suspected of carrying coronavirus.
Phillip Meyer, 48, and his 12-yearold son Gabriel began suffering symptoms shortly after returning from a family skiing trip in northern Italy on Feb 24.
The pair went into isolation a week later, after developing coughs and high temperatures.
Mr Meyer said: “I called NHS 111 last Monday and was told that we’d be tested for coronavirus.
“Since then I’ve been calling every day asking when they would actually arrive. We still have the symptoms and
I’m worried that we might have unwittingly spread the virus around before going into isolation.
“They clearly don’t have the capacity to do this properly and it’s putting people at risk.”
An ambulance finally turned up to test Mr Meyer and his son at their home in Westerham, Kent, shortly after the trust was contacted by the media. South East Coast Ambulance, which runs NHS 111, apologised and said tests were taking place.
Meanwhile, the son of a 60-year-old man who died after being diagnosed has said he fell ill “instantly”.
The man died at North Manchester General Hospital on Sunday after comthat ing back from a trip to northern Italy at the end of February, his son told the Bengali language radio station of the BBC’S World Service.
Prof Sharon Peacock, director of the National Infection Service at Public Health England, said: “Wider testing is important as it allows us to continue to meet demand as the number of people being tested increases.
“This will ensure we have the most robust system possible to understand what is happening with the virus.”
Health chiefs predicted that half of all cases were likely to arise within a three-week period, with all but 5 per cent of them occurring over a timescale of nine weeks.