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The United Kingdom “is very likely to meet or meet” its goal of 100,000 daily coronavirus tests, said Transport Secretary Grant Shapps.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the government would hit the target in late April, which was Thursday, and that those numbers are expected later.
Just over 81,000 tests were conducted on Wednesday, but Shapps said on Question Time that there was room for more.
It occurs when the prime minister said the UK was now “beyond the peak” of the outbreak.
Speaking about the goal of daily testing on Thursday night, Shapps said “the point is to have tests available.”
He continued: “At the beginning of the week we only had 5,000 home tests available, now we have 20,000 available and that is why we are very likely to get very close or meet the goal of 100,000.”
A government source also told the BBC that they were “pretty sure” that the test numbers “will be where our projections predicted them.”
“But you can never take anything for granted,” they added.
‘Integral plan’
Speaking at Briefing No. 10 for the first time since he received hospital treatment for Covid-19, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the government was “massively intensifying” the tests, and that the country had already “exceeded the peak of this disease”.
The prime minister added that he would establish a “comprehensive plan” next week on how to restart the economy, reopen schools and help people commute to work after the coronavirus blockade.
Labor leader Sir Keir Starmer welcomed the Prime Minister’s commitment to outline a plan next week as “a step in the right direction.”
Some 26,771 people have died from the virus in the UK, an increase of 674.
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Johnson said that to avoid the “disaster” of a second spike, the UK should keep the rate of R (the number of people an infected person will transmit the virus to) less than one.
- Coronavirus: Is R the crucial number?
BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg asked what level the rate of reproduction should be before the government is “comfortable easing the restrictions.”
The government’s top medical adviser, Professor Chris Whitty, replied: “We are absolutely certain that the wrong answer is more than just one.”
He explained that as soon as the R rises above one, “it will restart exponential growth” and “sooner or later” the NHS would risk being overwhelmed. The current rate is believed to be between 0.6 and 0.9 across the country.
The government has established five tests that must be met before closure restrictions can be alleviated, including:
- making sure the NHS can cope
- a “sustained and constant” drop in the daily mortality rate
- infection rate decreases to “manageable levels”
- Ensuring that test and PPE supply can meet future demand
- and rest assured that any adjustment would not risk a second spike “overwhelming the NHS”
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Johnson was among those who joined the Clap for Carers nationwide on Thursday night.
The prime minister said it was “vital” to avoid a second spike “because that would really cause economic damage,” adding that the UK must “gradually unlock the economy” and at the same time find ways to continue suppressing the disease.
He said the dates and times of each individual measure would depend on “where we are in the epidemic,” and said the government was “being guided by science.”
“What you get next week is really a road map, a menu of options,” Johnson said.
Facial masks
Johnson also said that covering the face will be “useful” as part of the strategy to get out of the lockdown “both for epidemiological reasons and to give people confidence that they can return to work.”
The Scottish government already recommends that people wear facial coatings when they are in shops and on public transport.
And Shapps said on Question Time that there was a “live discussion” within the government about the introduction of new quarantine measures at airports for people entering the country.
Also on the BBC One show, former Foreign Minister George Osborne said the country had no tests “as fast as we would like” and entered the shutdown too late, but added: “Hospitals have not fallen and capacity has been built. ”
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Meanwhile, people from across the country have participated in the sixth Clap for Carers tribute to thank NHS staff and care workers.
Johnson was photographed applauding outside of number 10, while his fiancé Carrie Symonds, who gave birth to the couple’s son on Wednesday, tweeted that he would join the applause and had “another wonderful reason to thank the NHS this week as well.”
During the briefing, Johnson also thanked the NHS and mentioned his “much happier hospital visit yesterday.”
The total number of deaths of people who tested positive for Covid-19 in UK hospitals and the wider community is now 26,771, according to data published by the Department of Health and Social Care.
This is different from the total of 26,711 initially announced by Mr. Johnson in the briefing.
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