Coronavirus: Health experts 'frustrated' by low UK virus testing - BBC News 02/04/2020, 16:31

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Drive-through testing sites for some NHS staff have opened in southern England
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Health officials say they are "frustrated" by a lack of progress in expanding
UK coronavirus testing.

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Coronavirus: Health experts 'frustrated' by low UK virus testing - BBC News 02/04/2020, 16:31

Prof Paul Cosford of Public Health England (PHE) said "everybody involved" was
unhappy testing had not "got to the position yet that we need to get to".

Prime Minister Boris Johnson responded to criticism of the UK's strategy by hailing
screening as a solution to "unlock the puzzle" of coronavirus.

It came as a further 569 patients died with coronavirus in UK hospitals.

Three
As of 17:00 BST on Wednesday, the overall number of deaths with the virus in the
survi
UK was 2,921.

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Mr Johnson, who continues to suffer mild symptoms during self-isolation in The m
Downing Street after contracting the virus himself, has faced widespread criticism
Amaz
over his government's testing strategy.

Around 13,000 tests are available each day against a target of 25,000.

Prof Cosford said testing would hit 15,000 per day "imminently" and that PHE had
played its part in ensuring tests were "available to support clinical treatment of
patients who need it".

The government has confirmed that 2,800 NHS frontline staff out of half a million in
England have been tested for coronavirus since the outbreak began. How

Prof Cosford, PHE's emeritus medical director, told BBC Radio 4's Today
programme the figure was "nowhere near where we need to get to but it's a good
start".

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Coronavirus: Health experts 'frustrated' by low UK virus testing - BBC News 02/04/2020, 16:31

Meanwhile, Labour MP Dawn Butler said her uncle died after contracting
coronavirus in hospital following a fall.

"Government needs to test everyone who works in the hospitals without delay," she
wrote on Twitter.

And Labour peer Shami Chakrabarti said the slow pace of testing showed "a lack of
clarity of what the plan is and how it is going to be executed".
The e
retur
Can I get tested for coronavirus?

Boots staff safety fears as shoppers keep browsing

Shoppers confused over what 'essential items' are

Sir Paul Nurse, chief executive of the Francis Crick research institute - which will
soon be able to conduct 500 Covid-19 tests a day - said a Dunkirk-style effort was
needed to co-ordinate smaller laboratories and increase test numbers.
Thing
"We are a lot of little boats and the little boats can be effective," he said, referring to got ri
the evacuation of Allied troops from the beaches of the French city during World
War Two.

He added: "The government has put some big boats, destroyers in place. That's a
bit more cumbersome to get working and we wish them all the luck to do that, but
we little boats can contribute as well."


The s
supe

The daily figures for the number of new cases, deaths and tests virtually mirror
those released yesterday.

At this stage, when we are on an upwards trajectory, the fact that there has not
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been significant increases in terms of cases and deaths can perhaps be interpreted
cerem
as a good sign.

But what is more important is the trend over a few days - not 24 hours in isolation.

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Coronavirus: Health experts 'frustrated' by low UK virus testing - BBC News 02/04/2020, 16:31

Any improvement will be seen in the number of new cases first.

Else
They were hovering around the 2,500 to 3,000 mark in the five days up to
yesterday.

Then the number of new cases jumped to over 4,300, which has been nearly
matched today.

There will be hope that this is where it plateaus, before dropping down.

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In a video message on Twitter on Wednesday evening, Mr Johnson said that testing
increased screening would be how the UK defeats the coronavirus.
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"I want to say a special word about testing, because it is so important, and as I Nightin
have said for weeks and weeks, this is the way through," he said.
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"This is how we will unlock the coronavirus puzzle. This is how we will defeat it in 'unsafe
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Coronavirus: Health experts 'frustrated' by low UK virus testing - BBC News 02/04/2020, 16:31

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The PM posted a video message on Twitter on Wednesday evening

Mr Johnson said more coronavirus testing would enable staff who were self-
isolating - either because they had symptoms or shared a household with someone
who was sick - to know if they were safe to work.

Antibody tests - which look for signs of immunity in the blood - could also show who
had already had coronavirus and was therefore not at risk of being infected or
passing the infection on to others, the prime minister said.

However, these tests are not yet ready for use and it is not clear when they will be.

The prime minister's official spokesman said more than 2,800 people had been
tested at drive-through sites and a "significant number" additionally in NHS and
Public Health England laboratories, with an update expected later.

The spokesman confirmed that two laboratories, in addition to one in Milton

Keynes, were being set up in Cheshire and Glasgow to process tests in the North
of England and Scotland.

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Coronavirus: Health experts 'frustrated' by low UK virus testing - BBC News 02/04/2020, 16:31

EPA

An NHS coronavirus drive through test centre is already in place at Chessington World of Adventures
car park

EPA

Ambulance workers outside the Nightingale Hospital at the Excel centre in London

Health Secretary Matt Hancock has held talks with industry figures, issuing what his
department said was a "rallying call" to improve diagnostic capability.

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Coronavirus: Health experts 'frustrated' by low UK virus testing - BBC News 02/04/2020, 16:31

However, some NHS trusts have said they are limited in the number of tests they
can carry out due to continued shortages of swabs, reagents and testing kits.

Despite there being capacity for 12,799 daily tests in England, there were only
10,657 carried out on Tuesday.

As of 09:00 on 2 April, 163,194 people in the UK had been tested for the virus, of
which 33,718 were confirmed positive.

'Game-changer' test
Meanwhile, Addenbrooke's hospital in Cambridge has become the first in the UK to
use a new, much quicker Covid-19 test for staff and patients.

Called Samba Two, it gives a result in just 90 minutes - as opposed to the 24 hours
tests currently take - and has been adapted from an HIV test by a small Cambridge
technology company.

Businessman and philanthropist Sir Chris Hohn, who is helping make the test more
widely available, told the BBC it could be a "game-changer" in helping hospitals
cope with the crisis.

In other developments:

Comedian Eddie Large has died with coronavirus aged 78, his family said

Loan and credit card payments could be frozen to support those struggling
as a result of the coronavirus pandemic

British Airways is expected to announce it will suspend around 36,000 staff

due to the crisis

A third prisoner in the UK has died after contracting coronavirus at HMP

Littlehey in Cambridgeshire. So far, 73 inmates across 27 prisons have tested
positive for the virus, as have 15 staff in nine prisons, and four working in
prisoner escort and custody services, the Ministry of Justice said

Up to 3,000 armed forces reservists have been called up to aid the military
response to the coronavirus pandemic

The Treasury is to announce changes to its emergency loans scheme for

businesses by the end of the week - after thousands of struggling companies
had their applications turned down

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Coronavirus: Health experts 'frustrated' by low UK virus testing - BBC News 02/04/2020, 16:31

The chair of the digital, culture, media and sport committee has suggested
football clubs that refuse to cut salaries of players while cutting the pay of non-
players should be hit with a windfall tax. Some Premier League clubs have
furloughed non-playing staff.

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Coronavirus: Health experts 'frustrated' by low UK virus testing - BBC News 02/04/2020, 16:31

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