UK links put to the test
Confusion as Hancock pledges 100,000 tests a day by end of month.. but only in England
A UK GOVERNMENT pledge to carry out 100,000 coronavirus tests a day by the end of the month was mired in confusion last night.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock announced the target at teatime and the Department of Heath initially said the figure was UK-wide – a move backed by the Scottish Government.
But a late UK Government press release last night said that was an error and the target was only for England.
The Scottish Government then said they couldn’t clarify the situation until this morning.
It remained unclear how many of those new tests – if any – would come to Scotland, where the Government yesterday insisted it recognised the importance of testing NHS workers.
It has so far carried out 3400 on staff or their families.
In her press briefing, Nicola Sturgeon said this would “rise rapidly in the days to come”.
The First Minister reiterated testing was only possible if people had symptoms and that during the incubation period of the infection it would not show a positive result. But she added: “In future, we also hope to be able to offer antibody testing which will indicate if someone has had the infection.”
Sturgeon stressed these tests were not yet available in a “reliable form” and Hancock also explained that the Government had rejected certain coronavirus tests because they were not effective.
He said: “Several of the tests
BY TORCUIL CRICHTON we’re checking have failed. In one case, a test I’m being urged to buy missed three out of four cases of coronavirus. Approving tests that don’t work is dangerous and I will not do it.”
Once widespread testing is available, the UK will prioritise critical key workers to make sure that they do not spread the virus.
The aim is for a successful test that can be rolled out at scale, that could allow critical workers and then the wider population to return to work and their daily lives.
Hancock revealed his 100,000 aim as he came back from self-isolation determined to put the NHS on the front-foot against the virus amid a growing outcry that the UK Government has been slow to react to the crisis.
With the Prime Minister Boris Johnson absent and still dealing with the effects of Covid-19, it fell to Hancock - who was also diagnosed with Covid-19 last week - to give “a firm commitment” that the there would be tenfold increase in testing.
He stood by Johnson’s claim that a 250,000 tests target was still achievable - but also gave a strong hint that the UK lockdown to prevent the spread of Covid-19 will continue beyond the initial three weeks.
He defended his decision to prioritise patients for testing rather than NHS staff, saying: “I believe anybody in my shoes would have taken the same decision.” Hancock - who had been self-isolating for a week after testing positive - outlined a five-pillar plan to increase testing, which experts agree is the only way to get a grip on the spread of the virus.
The plan is built on increased swab testing, using commercial partners for checks, using antibody blood tests to determine who had the disease, increasing surveillance in the population and building a new diagnostics industry to back testing.
Hancock said that having
shaken off coronavirus, he was personally more resolute in battling it. He said: “I am now setting the goal of 100,000 tests per day by the end of this month.
“That is the goal and I am determined that we will get there.
“We are in the midst of a war against an invisible enemy. And it is a war in which all of humanity is on the same side.
“Mass testing is how we unlock the coronavirus puzzle and defeat it in the end.”
Hancock took a swipe at Premier League footballers down south for continuing to take massive salaries while smallers clubs stared into the abyss.
He called on overpaid stars to get on board, saying: “Everyone need to play their part in this, and that means Premier league footballers, too. Make a contribution, take a pay cut.”
He confirmed that the Government was considering issuing people with immunity certificates once the antibody tests were ready for rollout.
He said: “We are looking at an immunity certificate, how people who have had the disease, have got the antibodies and therefore have the immunity, can show that and so get back, as much as possible, to normal life.”
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said: “The fact that we are not yet even testing 10,000 people a day is very serious indeed.
“There are almost half a million people working in the NHS and the care sector. Even they have not yet been tested. It is ludicrous.”
Shadow Health Secretary Jonathan Ashworth welcomed the new target on testing but said it was “not the 250,000 Boris
Johnson promised”. Ashworth also called for more clarity and details, asking how many of the 100,000 tests will be blood tests and what role testing will play in the Government’s “exit strategy” to end the lockdown.
Some critics pointed out the UK was well behind countries like Germany in testing but Hancock said the UK “didn’t go into this crisis with a huge diagnostics industry” like other countries.
The PM’s seven days of selfisolation end today but it is unclear whether he plans to leave his Downing Street flat.