1
Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick speaks at the daily COVID-19 news conference at 10 Downing Street in London, Britain on April 18, 2020. (REUTERS File Photo)
LONDON, May 1 (Reuters): Britain may have hit its daily target of carrying out 100,000 COVID-19 tests a day, or will come close, putting in place the beginnings of a network to test, track and trace people through the pandemic, housing minister Robert Jenrick said on Friday.
After weeks of being criticised for moving too slowly on testing for the novel coronavirus, health minister Matt Hancock set the target of 100,000 tests a day by the end of April, increasing the number of drive-through testing sites and sending out home tests to a wider number of eligible people.
With Prime Minister Boris Johnson saying Britain had passed through the coronavirus peak, a mass testing programme to gauge the spread of the virus through the population is seen as key to any easing of the social distancing measures that have all but shut down the economy and forced millions to stay at home.
"I don't have the figures yet, they'll be published later today. But it looks like we'll either meet the target or come close so we will have very significantly increased the amount of testing in this country," he told BBC TV.
"It's an important stepping stone. We've now built the beginnings of the network that we'll need of testing, tracking and tracing for the next phase of fighting the virus."
Johnson and his government have been criticised not only for not quickly stepping up testing but also for moving slowly on a lockdown and for a lack of protective equipment for health workers.
With deaths of more than 26,000, Britain may be set to become one of the worst-hit countries in Europe and it is all but inevitable the government's response to the outbreak will be subject of an inquiry afterwards.
The country's testing capability will most probably be part of that.
Britain carried out more than 81,000 tests on Wednesday, a leap from early last month when only 10,000 people were being tested in what the country's national testing strategy coordinator, John Newton, called "an extraordinary achievement".
"As we move to the next phase the requirement for testing will change and we can now respond quickly with the testing capability needed," he said in a blog on Thursday.
"Our ultimate goal is that anyone who needs a test should have one ... Testing will help to keep it (the infection rate) under control once we are out, but lack of testing has not kept us in lockdown a day longer."
