200,000-a-day virus test target has been met, Hancock reveals

BRITAIN has met its target to build a daily coronavirus testing capacity of 200,000 a day by June 1, health secretary Matt Hancock said yesterday.

A total of 205,634 tests were available on Saturday, according to the Department for Health and Social Care.

This includes the capacity for 40,000 antibody tests a day, currently available to NHS staff and care workers, to determine whether they have had the virus. A surveillance testing system is also under way to develop a greater understanding of how the virus is spreading through the population, with more than 250,000 tests conducted across the UK so far.

Mr Hancock (pictured) said: ‘Reaching our 200,000 capacity target is an important milestone on our journey to control the spread of the virus, save lives and gradually ease lockdown.

‘By rapidly expanding our testing capacity we have been able to introduce NHS Test and Trace, and enabling those who have coronavirus symptoms to get a test is an important part of the programme.’ He described the achievement as ‘incredible’ and praised the civil service, NHS, Public Health England, universities, scientific community, armed forces and private sector companies. Prof John Newton, national testing co-ordinator, said the expansion of testing capacity ‘has allowed us to take important steps to control the virus, including the introduction of a world-class contact tracing service’.