“No one expects the demand for corona virus tests to increase significantly,” said the head of Test and Trace.
The admission of Baroness Tito Harding came after some residents COVID-19 Hotspots complained that it was difficult to test.
People complained that the tests were not available or that they had to be done hundreds of miles away from where they lived.
Tory MP, Chairman of the Commons Science and Technology Committee. Greg Clark said the UK was “scattering” in “completely predictable conditions”, but “we do not have the right capacity for peacetime in June, July and August”.
When he testified on Thursday he told Baroness Harding: “Clearly you were not prepared enough.”
The head of Test and Trace stressed that this was not a “quiet summer”, but acknowledged: “Clearly we do not have enough testing ability.”
Baroness Harding also confirmed that priority was going to be given to key workers Corona virus Tests – with teachers “may be at the top of that list” so schools can “continue to operate”.
About 50% of trials are reserved for hospital patients, community care workers and residents, and NHS workers – including GPs and pharmacists.
Conservative beer has partially increased the need for schools to reopen, and the number of children asking for tests has doubled – growing at an even higher rate between the ages of five and nine.
He confirmed that the current daily test capacity is 242,000 – although not all of these have been used.
The next target is 500,000 a day by the end of October, but Baroness Harding has denied that it will be enough.
“I hope we need more as we go beyond the end of October,” he said.
Baroness Harding also suggested that the failure to provide everyone with their test results within 24 hours was intentional – not to cause too much inconvenience in the labs.
“We have made a conscious decision to extend the breakthrough times as the demand has increased to process more tests in the last two weeks,” he revealed.
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