Plea to aid the NHS receives huge response

A total of 500,000 volunteers sign up as PM promises to ‘ramp up’ tests for virus

BRITAIN HAS responded in earnest to the NHS’s call for help with 500,000 volunteers signing up to aid the health service in its hour of need.

The Government yesterday called for 250,000 volunteers to support the NHS but within 24 hours that target had been far exceeded, with the current figure representing more than 16,000 people signing up an hour.

It came as Boris Johnson said the UK is “coping very well indeed under the most challenging possible circumstances” and he thanked all of those who had come forward.

The PM had said earlier: “When we launched the appeal last night, we hoped to get 250,000 volunteers over a few days. But in just 24 hours, 405,000 people have responded to the call. That is already, in one day, as many volunteers as the population of Coventry.”

The helpers will deliver food and medicines, drive patients to appointments and phone people who are isolated.

Mr Johnson also said the Government was “massively ramping up” testing for coronavirus and it was hoped that “very soon” 250,000 tests would be carried out each day.

But the PM and his advisers have come under criticism for not testing more people faster, and confusion over who will be able to get hold of tests.

Earlier yesterday Professor Sharon Peacock, director of the National Infection Service at Public Health England (PHE), told the Commons Science and Technology Committee that the public will be able to carry out coronavirus antibody tests at home.

She said 3.5m tests have been bought and will be available in the “near future”. She added that

the tests will also allow key workers – like doctors and nurses – to go back to work if they have developed antibodies.

Prof Peacock said a small number of tests would be tested in a laboratory before being distributed via Amazon and in places like Boots.

But Professor Chris Whitty, the Government’s Chief Medical Officer, distanced himself from those remarks and said he did not think people would be able to order tests on the internet next week. He said there were shortages along many supply chains in the production of tests because “every country in the world is simultaneously wanting this new thing”. He added: “It’s not that there is no testing going on, what we need, clearly, is to be able to scale it up.”

But he said first the UK needed to make sure tests were accurate, before making sure frontline staff were tested and before the public would have access to tests.

It comes as the British Medical Association (BMA) warned doctors and nurses wo uld die without adequate protective equipment.

It said doctors are risking serious illness and death due to a lack of stock, and it warned many more could go off sick unless immediate steps are taken.

The BMA said there is “growing evidence that thousands of GPs and hospital staff are still not being provided with personal protective equipment (PPE) they need to properly protect themselves and their patients”, despite Government assurances.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock has said millions of pieces of PPE have been sent out in recent days and a hotline has been set up so staff can report where there are shortages.

The Government’s Deputy Chief Medical Officer Dr Jenny Harries also insisted yesterday there is enough PPE available for all. But the BMA said it has heard accounts of no stock, very small amounts of PPE, rationing and kit that does not offer sufficient protection. BMA council chairman Dr Chaand Nagpaul said: “We are told that lorries are shipping hundreds of boxes of supplies of PPE to GPs and to hospitals, but that isn’t the reality for thousands of our members.”

The toll from coronavirus in the UK is 463 after 28 more confirmed deaths, it was announced last night.