[ad_1]
Image copyright
fake pictures
The government admitted to sending nearly 50,000 tests of coronavirus to the United States last week for processing after “operational problems” in UK laboratories.
Sending swabs abroad is among the contingencies for dealing with “initial problems,” the Health Department said.
The samples were airlifted to the United States on chartered flights from Stansted Airport, the Sunday Telegraph said.
The results will be validated in the UK and will be sent to patients as soon as possible.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Social Assistance said expanding Britain’s virus testing network involved establishing a “completely new” laboratory network to process the tests, adding that “contingencies,” such as sending swabs abroad, were in place for when “problems” arise. “
The disclosure comes when the government failed to meet the 100,000 daily tests target set by Health Secretary Matt Hancock for the seventh consecutive day.
There were 96,878 tests delivered in the 24 hours to 09:00 BST on Friday, up from 97,029 the day before.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said that his “ambition” was to reach 200,000 tests “by the end of this month, and then go even higher.”
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.
Speaking at the Downing Street coronavirus briefing, Deputy Chief Medical Officer Professor Jonathan Van-Tam said he expected a “fluctuation” in day-to-day numbers.
He said: “Now we are really on a high plateau, in the region of 100,000 tests per day.
“I don’t think we can read too much about day-to-day variations, but the macro picture is that it is now at a much, much higher level than ever at the beginning of this crisis.”
Image copyright
PA Average
BBC health reporter Rachel Schraer said the UK did not start with the resources to carry out mass tests, unlike other countries.
But it also took several weeks to expand from the initial eight public health labs to a broader network of university and private labs.
Unlike the United Kingdom, countries like Germany and South Korea quickly stored kits and made the test available to more laboratories.
Professor Van-Tam also said in the briefing that the testing and tracking strategy of finding people with the virus and tracking people they have come in contact with was “part of the solution” necessary to facilitate the blockade.
When asked if the rate of new infections had to be reduced to hundreds per day for the strategy to be effective, when it currently stands in the thousands, Professor Van-Tam said it was entirely appropriate that it be part of the “general measures” to cope with the virus.
Emphasizing that it was not the total solution, he said it would give more space for steps to facilitate social distancing.
