Spijed wrote: ↑Mon Apr 20, 2020 6:09 pm
Aim to get 100,000 tests by end of the month yet less than 20,000 were done in the latest figures.
Why promise so many when it's clearly obvious it won't be achievable?
Times online has an article on testing - published 5pm today. It appears to address some of the questions people have.
Coronavirus testing for bus drivers could help hit 100,000 target
More key workers have been promised coronavirus tests as the government struggles to hit its target of 100,000 a day.
Downing Street suggested bus drivers could be among the next in line for testing and said that it wanted “much broader groups of key workers” to be eligible for checks.
Officials insist that lack of demand not lack of capacity is holding back progress, despite complaints from NHS and care workers about inconvenient swabbing centres hours’ drives away from some who need them.
Most recent figures show that 21,626 tests were carried out in the 24 hours to yesterday morning but the government says labs have capacity for 36,000.
Mass screening of NHS staff without symptoms is also being considered to fill unused testing capacity as leading scientists say that this would protect patients and give a much better understanding of how the virus is spreading.
Home testing kits will be sent to some social care staff this week using Amazon logistics to get swabs back to labs as part of the effort to solve the problem. Mobile testing stations run by the military are also being considered.
On Friday Matt Hancock, the health secretary, said that eligibility for testing would be extended beyond NHS and social care staff to the police, fire brigades, prisons, key council workers, the judiciary and benefits office staff.
Today the prime minister’s spokesman said that “the demand from the NHS wasn’t as expected which is why we’ve extended who’s eligible”.
He added: “What we’re doing is rolling out the eligibility criteria so there’s much broader groups of key workers having these tests. We want to see that starting to happen as soon as possible.”
Asked if this could mean more workers such as bus drivers becoming eligible for testing, he said: “Yes. It’s perfectly possible that we could extend the eligibility still further. As I say we have the capacity and want to use it.”
Over the weekend the second of three testing “mega labs” opened at Alderley Park in Cheshire and the final one in Glasgow is due to start processing samples next week. Ministers believe that these, along with NHS and Public Health England labs, will have the capacity to hit the 100,000 a day target. However, they acknowledge a bigger risk of missing the target is failing to get enough samples in to test, either because of lack of demand or logistical problems.
This morning Sir Paul Nurse, director of the Francis Crick Institute, said that the lab side of testing was “largely solved” and the problem now was a logistical one. “The laboratories could deal with it but whether we have the workflow, that is collecting the samples, getting them into the laboratory, looking after the IT issues . . . these are difficult logistical problems,” he told the BBC.
With about a third of those infected with coronavirus showing no symptoms, Sir Paul called for regular checks on frontline staff.
“We are putting into our hospitals our care homes and so on individuals who may be infected but are not being detected because of the present regulations about who should be tested and they in turn will be infecting potentially their colleagues and also vulnerable patients.
“What we need now, today, is regular testing every week of frontline healthcare workers so we can get the data to see how big an issue this is, and so the minister can make a decision about this being rolled out everywhere so we can protect our patients and protect our care workers.”
Mr Hancock has previously said he hoped to be able to start this within weeks as testing capacity increased. Government scientific advisers are also pressing for screening in hospitals and care homes after becoming concerned about the spread of the virus among healthcare workers.
On Friday he told MPs on the health select committee: “One of the further things we’re considering but have not yet been able to take forward is the mass testing of asymptomatic staff within the NHS.”
He said that he was in discussions with hospital chiefs about it and hoped to be able to start “in the coming weeks. This is all determined by capacity in testing”.
This user liked this post: Elizabeth