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Keir Starmer warned that the coronavirus testing and tracing system is “on the brink of collapse” as ministers admitted that the lack of laboratory capacity that has prevented many people from getting tested could take 15 days to resolve.
The delay in processing Covid results, which has seen some people asked to travel from London to Scotland for testing, sparked alarm from council leaders who said it could be dire in the period in. that pupils and students return to education.
With some nursing homes also warning of a lack of evidence for staff and residents, London Mayor Sadiq Khan urged the government to take control, saying the country was facing “a critical moment” to avoid a major resurgence. virus scale. .
Addressing the weekly cabinet meeting on Tuesday morning, Boris Johnson reiterated warnings for young people to socially distance themselves after the number of daily infections soared to nearly 3,000 for two consecutive days.
While the latest UK daily total, released later on Tuesday, fell slightly to just over 2,400, ministers announced new measures in Bolton following a spike in infections, including restaurants and pubs restricted to takeout.
But efforts to prevent the UK, which follows countries like Spain and France, from seeing further growth in cases, runs the risk of being thwarted by persistent problems with the test and trace system.
After several days of people reporting being told the only available evidence was hundreds of miles away, or that they couldn’t get one at all, a senior NHS official issued a “heartfelt” apology Tuesday for the morning.
Sarah-Jane Marsh, Test Director, tweeted: “All of our test sites have capacity, so they don’t feel crowded, our lab processing is the tipping point. We are doing our best to expand rapidly. “
Professor Alan McNally, who helped establish the Milton Keynes Lighthouse Lab, one of three “megalabs” created to support the testing initiative, asked ministers to clarify the issues facing labs.
“If we’ve really reached the peak of what we can handle in terms of test requests, then go public and call on the labs to help out in any way they can,” he said.
“Clearly, we are seeing the beginning of another exponential increase in virus cases and the beginning of another great epidemic wave. Everything I’m seeing right now points to that. “
Sir Chris Ham, former CEO of the Kings Fund, said something appeared to have gone “very wrong” at Lighthouse Labs in recent days. “This is a real canary at the time of mine for us as we begin to approach fall and winter, that the numbers are absolutely moving in the wrong direction,” he said.
Responding to questions from the Commons health and social care committee, Health Secretary Matt Hancock said there had been “operational issues” related to the contracts to perform the tests, adding: “It’s a matter of a couple of weeks until that we can get all of that resolved in the short term. “
Hancock noted that the government had moved to make sure no one had to travel more than 75 miles for a test, but admitted: “I appreciate that 75 miles is much longer than you would like to go.”
Starmer said that while he accepted that the full return of the schools would bring some risks of higher levels of infection, the ministers should have got the testing system up and running properly beforehand.
“What we are seeing now are stories from the past few days showing that the testing regime is on the brink of collapse,” he told the BBC. “Heartbreaking stories of people needing a test and being told there is no test available, or the website is going down, or people are being told to go miles and miles for a test. No one can argue that this is good government. “
In a parallel warning, Khan said the government risked squandering its “summer window of opportunity” to implement an effective test-and-trace system before schools and universities returned, and questioned why ministers were still focused. in encouraging workers to return to offices.
“To prevent this from becoming a tragic second wave of Covid deaths, the government urgently needs to monitor the test and trace system and speak to the public about the seriousness of the situation,” Khan said.
“Sending mixed mixed messages and berating people to return to the office is the wrong approach given the current state of the virus.”
Another local Labor leader, Danny Thorpe, who heads the Greenwich council in south-east London, said he was still waiting for the central government to tell him why many locals were asked first to go to Dundee, Leicester or Cardiff for the tests, or they were told that neither had. available.
“The incompetence of the government is going to cost lives,” he said. “It’s a week where we as a council have been getting kids back to school, supporting local businesses and working with local universities and colleges, and being asleep at work is inexcusable.”
Teacher unions also warned that testing delays could hamper the return of schools, and students and teachers who would test negative would be left unnecessarily.
Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the National Association of Heads of Teachers (NAHT), said: “The government assured us that this would be ready, but at the first sign of stress it appears to be collapsing. This will seriously jeopardize a successful and sustainable return to school.
“It is unacceptable for this to happen when schools have worked so hard to get their part of the plan right, and when students have already endured so much uncertainty and disruption.”
There is also a concern that nursing homes in many areas may not have the mandatory weekly tests for staff and monthly tests for residents.
Nadra Ahmed, president of the National Association for Caregiving, which represents many nursing homes, said many members had contacted due to lack of testing or delays in receiving results.
“They are worried,” he said. “It seems to be almost like a zip code lottery at the moment, which is even more alarming, because outbreaks may go undetected. At this point we were supposed to be doing daily tests. “
Addressing the Commons on Tuesday afternoon, Hancock stressed that the government was working “full steam ahead” to expand testing capacity.
Referring to the worsening situation in Spain and France, Hancock also warned that the virus remains a threat. “This is not over. The fact that we have crossed a peak does not mean that we cannot see another one approaching our shores,” he said.
