Friday, 29 March, 2024
HomeWeekly RoundupUK intends to up COVID-19 testing to 100,000 per day by end...

UK intends to up COVID-19 testing to 100,000 per day by end April

The UK will test 100,000 people per day for coronavirus by the end of this month, CNN reports UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock announced. "That is the goal and I am determined we will get there," said Hancock, who had been self-isolating for seven days with coronavirus. But, the report says, the new pledge came before the UK has even met its current target of 25,000 tests per day.

Hancock set out the government's order of priority for testing people for coronavirus: Patients first, expanding to National Health Service (NHS) staff and their families, critical key workers third and "over time we will expand to community."

He said the government intends to reach the target through a five-pillar testing strategy:

  1. Swab testing in Public Health England labs and within the NHS in hospitals.
  2. Partnerships with universities, research institutes and companies like Amazon and Boots to build new labs and testing sites across the country, to be initially used solely for frontline NHS staff and their families.
  3. Blood tests designed to tell if people have had the virus and are now immune. These could potentially be done at home with a finger prick, Hancock said. The government is currently working with nine companies.
  4. Surveys to find out what proportion of the population already had the virus, using an antibody test. There is capacity for 3,500 of these tests a week.
  5. Pharmaceutical giants will assist in building a British diagnostics industry at scale.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has vowed to boost the country's coronavirus testing efforts after facing a barrage of criticism for screening fewer people than other nations at a similar stage of the epidemic.

[link url="https://edition.cnn.com/2020/04/02/uk/uk-coronavirus-testing-criticism-intl-gbr/index.html"]Full CNN report[/link]

MedicalBrief — our free weekly e-newsletter

We'd appreciate as much information as possible, however only an email address is required.