More testing at very start would
● Transport Secretary warns Prime Minister’s exit strategy will not mean immediate return to ‘business as usual’ across UK
Fewerbritonswouldhavedied from coronavirus if more tests had been available earlier, a cabinet minister has admitted. Grant Shapps also warned life would not return to “business as usual” when Boris Johnson sets out his exit strategy.
The Transport Secretary said “many things” could have been different if the UK’S testingcapacitywasabove100,000 before Covid-19 spread in the country. More than 28,000 people have now died after testing positive for the virus in the UK.
Mr Shapps also confirmed the NHSX contact tracing app – which he said would need 50-60 per cent of people to use for it to be successful – will be trialled on the Isle of Wight this week before being rolled out later this month.
The app will be central to the government’s efforts in slowing the spread of coronavirus and will involve alerting people who have been in contact with an infected person and asking them to self-isolate.
In an interview with BBC One’s The Andrew Marr
Show, he was asked whether fewer people would have died if testing capacity had been greater sooner.
Mr Shapps replied: “Yes. If we had had 100,000 test capacity before this thing started and the knowledge that we now have retrospectively, I’m sure many things could be different.
“The fact of the matter is this is not a country that had – although we’re very big in pharmaceuticals as a country – we’re not a country that had very large test capacity.”
He also revealed that he was “actively looking at” quarantining
“If we had had 100,000 test capacity before this started and the knowledge we now have retrospectively, I’m sure many things could be different”
GRANT SHAPPS