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People across the country cannot get tested for coronavirus because labs have reached a “tipping point” to process them.
Sarah-Jane Marsh, director of testing at NHS Test and Trace, apologized and said “we are doing everything we can to expand rapidly.”
He added that other facilities that could process the tests must “open imminently.”
There have been reports from people being told that there are no appointments available at testing centers in England and that there are no home test kits available to ship.
Ms. Marsh tweeted Tuesday: “May I offer my sincerest apologies to anyone who cannot get tested for COVID at this time?
“All of our test sites have capacity, which is why they are not crowded, it is our laboratory processing that is the critical point.
“We are doing everything possible to expand rapidly.”
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She added in a follow-up tweet: “We have additional NHS, Lighthouse, University and Partner labs that will be opening imminently and we are also expanding the use of non-lab based testing.
“The test team works on this 18 hours a day, 7 days a week.
“We recognize that the country depends on us.”
Andy Thompson, 38, a technical manager at Crewe, said his six-year-old daughter is home from school with an ongoing cough, but has so far been unable to take a home test.
He said: “This is an absolute disaster. There is no home testing available. And now the closest testing center is Oldham, a 100 mile round trip with a sick child.”
“I didn’t realize how bad it is. If you don’t have a car, there’s no way you can get tested.”
It comes after people complained in recent days and weeks that they were driven hundreds of miles for a test.
In other coronavirus developments:
- It is understood that officials They are considering reducing the number of people who can meet indoors in England. The current limit is 30, but it could be lowered as a result of the current peak in cases.
- England’s deputy chief medical officer, Professor Jonathan Van-Tam, said there has been an increase in coronavirus cases because people have become “too relaxed.”
- Dr. David Nabarro, special envoy of the World Health Organization for the global response to COVID-19, said a second wave is coming
- Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick said the recent increase in the number of coronavirus cases is “concerning” and that it is essential that people follow government guidelines.
- Welsh Health Minister Vaughan Gething has said a local coronavirus lockdown is being imposed in Caerphilly because there is evidence of “community transmission” in the area.
- Restrictions on home visiting in the western parts of Scotland have been extended for another week to include East Dunbartonshire and Renfrewshire as well.
- There were an additional 2,948 laboratory-confirmed coronavirus cases in the UK at 9am Monday, following the 2,948 reported on Sunday, which was the largest daily figure since May.
- Just over 57,400 COVID-19 related deaths have been recorded in the UK, according to figures from official data sources.
- Aviation industry leaders have urged the government to commit to a coronavirus testing regime for international arrivals, after a new regional approach to England’s quarantine policy was announced.
A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Welfare said: “Hundreds of thousands of people are tested every day and new reserve spaces and home test kits are made available daily.
“There is a high demand for testing and to help stop the spread of the virus, we are targeting testing capacity in the areas that need it most, including those where there is an outbreak, as well as prioritizing groups at risk.
“We have the capacity to test coronavirus on an unprecedented scale. We are expanding capacity to 500,000 tests per day by the end of October, increasing the number of test sites and bringing new technology to process results faster.”
