HANCOCK’S 100,000 TESTS A DAY PLAN
HEALTH Secretary Matt Hancock said he was ‘setting the goal’ of reaching 100,000 tests for coronavirus per day by the end of the month.
He defended his decision to prioritise testing of patients over NHS staff and said he thought any health secretary would have done the same.
Mr Hancock said: “I understand why NHS staff want tests, so they can get back to the front line, of course I do.
“But I took the decision that the first priority has to be the patients for whom the results of a test could be the difference in treatment that is the difference between life and death.
“I believe anybody in my shoes would have taken the same decision.”
Mr Hancock said the UK lacked a large diagnostics industry so was having to build from a lower base than the likes of Germany, which is testing at greater levels for coronavirus.
He said a country-wide shortage of swabs had been resolved but that there remained a global challenge around sourcing the reagent chemicals needed for the tests.
He announced that, through a five-pillar plan on testing, the UK was looking to carry out 100,000 tests per day by the end of April.
The plan includes swab testing in Public Health England and NHS labs, introducing antibody blood tests to determine whether people have had COVID-19; and to build an ‘at-scale’ diagnostics industry to reach 100,000 tests by end of April.
Mr Hancock paid an emotional tribute to NHS staff who have lost their lives, and expressed his ‘deepest condolences’ to the friends and families of all coronavirus victims.