Testing boss says surge in demand came as big surprise

Baroness Harding suggests science advisers to blame for system struggling with insufficient capacity

NOBODY was expecting to see the “really sizeable increase in demand” for Covid-19 tests when schools reopened and people returned to workplaces, the head of the tracking system has said.

Baroness Harding, pictured right, told MPS that none of the modelling from the Government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) had prepared the system for current demand, which is currently outstripping capacity by three or four times.

However, last night, Sage hit back with Jeremy Farrar, director of the Wellcome Trust who also sits on the committee tweeting: “Interesting to be blaming Sage. Has been clear in the advice that the UK faced an inevitable increase in community transmission and cases after the summer and needed a fully functional and trusted track, trace isolate in place.”

Sir Jeremy added he has been stressing the importance of ramping up testing since May.

Lady Harding said demand was “significantly outstripping” the capacity conduct coronavirus tests, but insisted the system wasn’t failing.

It came as official figures showed just one in three people who turn up for a coronavirus test in England are getting results within 24 hours − half the levels achieved the week before.

Lady Harding denied that the system was “failing”. She told the Commons science and technology committee: “We made a conscious decision because of the huge increase in demand to extend the turnaround times in order to process more tests, over the course of the last couple of weeks.”

The head of NHS Test and Trace suggested to MPS that Sage was to blame for the predicament.

“I don’t think anybody was expecting to see the really sizeable increase in demand that we have seen over course of the last few weeks.

“We built our testing capacity plans based on Sage modelling. In none of the modelling was that expected and that is why I said I think we all have to think really hard about how we prioritise the use of these tests, that we are clear you should only get tested if you have the coronavirus symptoms.”

Yesterday, it emerged that Londoners were being sent to the back of the queue for tests, with capacity diverted to the North West.

Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, said “time is fast running out” for the capital to secure control of the virus.

Peter John, the chairman of London Councils, said capacity for testing had been slashed by a fifth overall, with some sites only able to do 50 tests a day, instead of 250. He said it was “very possible” restrictions could be placed on London by next week.

Hitting back, Jacob Rees-mogg, the Leader of the Commons, told MPS that

“instead of this endless carping”, people should “celebrate the phenomenal success of the British nation in getting up to a quarter of a million tests of a disease that nobody knew about until earlier in the year”.

Dr Layla Mccay, director at the NHS Confederation, said control of the virus had been lost.

She said: “It appears we are now in a position where the spread of the virus is no longer being adequately controlled, with new cases nearly tripling compared with the end of August.

“This is especially alarming at a time when winter is almost upon us, and access to testing has become a major problem, including for frontline staff.”

A Department of Health spokesman said: “There has been a spike in demand in recent weeks and the message is clear – only people with symptoms should be requesting a test.” restrictions such as the rule of six, while areas above a certain rate of infection would be subject to more stringent measures and areas with the highest rates of infection would face the tightest restrictions.

The infection rates for each category would be made public, enabling people to prepare for the possibility of local lockdowns by monitoring published data on their area.

According to a draft document, areas in the middle band would have “mandatory masks” and “restrict religious gatherings”, but the document has no further detail about what that would involve. Areas with the highest infection rates would go into local lockdown.

The Telegraph understands that under plans being discussed, care homes in areas under strict local lockdowns could be advised to pause visits to residents. Care homes in areas identified as being on amber alert would have a cap imposed on how many people could visit each resident, while visitor access is likely to remain unchanged in “green light” areas.

‘I don’t think anybody was expecting to see the really sizeable increase in demand that we have seen lately’