Coronavirus: Head of Test and Trace says rise in demand for COVID tests wasn't expected - Sky News

The head of Test and Trace has said she doesn't believe "anybody was expecting to see the really sizeable increase in demand" for coronavirus tests.

Baroness Dido Harding's admission comes after some residents in COVID-19 hotspots complained they were finding it difficult to get tested.

Reports have poured in of people saying they were told tests were unavailable or had to be done hundreds of miles away from where they live.

Image: Some people in COVID-19 hotspots complain they can't book a test

Greg Clark, a Tory MP who chairs the Commons Science and Technology Committee, said it was "dispiriting" the UK was "in circumstances which are entirely predictable" but "we haven't had the right capacity put in place during the quieter times of June, July and August".

He told Baroness Harding when she gave evidence on Thursday: "Clearly you didn't prepare enough."

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Image: The daily coronavirus test capacity is 242,817

The head of Test and Trace insisted that it had not been a "quiet summer" but admitted: "Plainly we don't have enough testing capacity."

Baroness Harding also confirmed that key workers are going to be prioritised for coronavirus tests - with teachers "likely to be top of that list" so schools can "remain functioning".

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She added that about 50% of tests are being reserved for hospital patients, social care staff and residents, and NHS workers - including GPs and pharmacists.

The Conservative peer partially blamed the big rise in demand on schools reopening, revealing the number of children asking for tests has doubled - and grew at an even higher rate among those aged five to nine-years-old.

And she confirmed the current daily test capacity is 242,000 - though not all of these are being used.

The next target is 500,000 a day by the end of October, but Baroness Harding refused to say if that would be enough.

"I am certain we will need more as we go beyond the end of October," she said.

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2020-09-17 15:38:45Z
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