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About 50,000 coronavirus test samples had to be sent from the UK to the US. USA After “operational problems” on the laboratory network caused system delays.
The news came when the number of daily coronavirus tests fell below Health Secretary Matt Hancock’s 100,000 target for the seventh consecutive day.
Following a report in the Sunday Telegraph, the Health Department said sending swabs abroad is one of the contingencies to deal with so-called teething problems in a rapidly expanding testing system.
It is understood that the test results will be validated in the UK and communicated to patients “as quickly as possible”.
When problems arise, we have contingencies that include … sending swabs abroad to partner laboratories for completion
The department said work has been done to resolve the issues and that capacity is being restored rapidly.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Social Care said: “The expansion of the UK coronavirus testing network has involved the creation of a completely new network of ‘Lighthouse’ laboratories to process test swabs.
“When problems arise, we have contingencies that include creating additional temporary capacity for our labs or shipping swabs abroad to partner labs for completion.
“Of course, our partner laboratories must meet our high standards.”
At 9 am on May 9, 1,728,443 tests were performed, with 96,878 tests on May 8.
1,270,408 people have been evaluated, of whom 215,260 tested positive.
At 5 pm on May 8, of those who tested positive for coronavirus, in all settings, 31,587 unfortunately died. pic.twitter.com/sXrY2tJnGN
– Department of Health and Social Care (@DHSCgovuk) May 9, 2020
The Sunday Telegraph reported that the samples were airlifted to the United States on chartered flights from Stansted Airport.
Earlier in the Downing Street daily briefing it was confirmed that 96,878 tests were conducted in the 24 hours at 9am on Saturday, up from 97,029 the day before.
But health leaders said they expected “fluctuations” in the numbers, and that the tests were still much higher than at the start of the outbreak.
(PA graphics)“/>Deputy Chief Medical Officer Professor Jonathan Van-Tam said that not much could be read about daily variations.
Speaking at the briefing, he added: “We are now really on a high plateau, in the region of 100,000 tests per day.
“There is some fluctuation, and frankly I hope there will be some fluctuation from day to day.
“I don’t think we can read too much about the day-to-day variations, but the macro picture is that it is now at a much higher level than ever at the beginning of this crisis.”
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Deputy Medical Director Professor Jonathan Van-Tam (Pippa Fowles / 10 Downing Street / Crown Copyright)Professor Van-Tam also said that the testing and tracking strategy of finding people with the virus and tracking people they have come into contact with was part of the steps necessary to facilitate the blockade.
When asked if he agreed that new infections had to be reduced by hundreds per day for the strategy to be effective when it is currently in the thousands, he said that it was entirely appropriate that it be part of the “general measures” to address the virus.
Professor Van-Tam said in the briefing that the extent of the strategy should depend on the level of disease in the population.
He added: “Those two together make a test and trace package, and we have been very clear that testing and trace by themselves is part of the solution to how we continue to live with this virus after the crash.”
“It is not the total solution.
“The extent of testing and tracing clearly depends on the level of disease in the population, but it is entirely appropriate to see it as part of the general measures that will give us more flexibility and more space as to what we can do in The Spacing Space social to make things easier.
“But by itself it is a contribution, it is not a total solution.”
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