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The government will not be able to reveal the results of its own Covid-19 test pledge of 100,000 a day until next week due to a delay in retrieving the results, according to No. 10.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock pledged on April 2 to reach the goal by the end of the month and has said he is still on target to reach the figure despite growing uncertainty.
Figures show that 29,000 tests were conducted in the last 24-hour period of data available to the government. This does not include tests conducted over the weekend.
It has emerged that the government does not expect to be able to publish accurate figures on April 30 on whether the 100,000 target was reached.
The prime minister’s official spokesman said: “We will not be able to say on Thursday this week whether or not we meet the 100,000 target. It will take a little more time for that to be clear.
“Home test kits can take up to 72 hours to get the results and therefore appear in the numbers.
“It will be obvious and rightly he will be able to judge us if we have reached that goal, but I don’t think that is possible, certainly not on Thursday and I think it will be difficult also on Friday.”
“We are working very hard to increase capacity. We are doing everything we can so that all people are tested as possible. “
On Monday, 10,000 home test kits were ordered from the government website in one hour, and 18,000 people had reserved slot machines at other test sites.
Of the 53,892 test capacities per day in the country, 17,939 tests were conducted by the NHS, Public Health of England and laboratories in Scotland and Wales, and 11,119 at transit sites as of 9 a.m. on Friday, April 25.
Updated figures on the number of deaths in nursing homes earlier this month will be released Tuesday.
Hancock said at Monday’s daily press conference that the UK’s testing capacity was now greater than that of South Korea, which used a test-and-trace strategy to flatten the curve and did not opt for a block.
“It is important to note that we have already exceeded the number of tests per day they perform in South Korea.” We are approaching the levels that Germany is undertaking, “he said.
The government has been repeatedly criticized for not launching massive tests much earlier in the pandemic. South Korea can test about 20,000 people a day, and Germany can test up to 800,000 a week, although it has generally screened 450,000 a week. Hancock’s comment that the UK is approaching German test levels will only be confirmed if they reach their 100k per day target, and it stays for a week.
As for the details of where Britain stands in terms of abandoning the “phase one” coronavirus strategy and whether it is close to achieving any of the five self-imposed tests to exit the blockade, the prime minister’s spokesman said there would be information in the coming days.
However, he confirmed that the country was moving “through the peak” of the spread of the virus.
Boris Johnson said outside Downing Street that he would share information with the public in the coming days.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak will also discuss specific loans for companies threatened by the coronavirus in a statement to the Commons on Monday.
For the first time, a member of the public will be able to ask a question at the daily press conference with journalists. Questions will be submitted to the Gov.uk/ask website and will then be pre-selected by polling firm YouGov, which oversees the process. There are no plans to reduce the amount of media inquiries.
Johnson’s offer, mentioned in his speech, to involve members of the opposition party in the response to the coronavirus will not involve a formal political alliance or work for opposition politicians, but regular talks with opposition MPs will continue. Its spokesman also ruled out a national unity government.
