Babak Belurs

Kamis, 17 September 2020

Coronavirus: Test demand 'significantly outstripping' capacity - BBC News

Demand for coronavirus testing is "significantly outstripping the capacity we have", head of NHS Test and Trace Baroness Harding has told MPs.

Lady Harding told the science and technology committee that the return to school meant test demand in England from under-17s had doubled.

She acknowledged that results were also taking "slightly longer".

But she said she was "very confident" of raising capacity to 500,000 tests a day by the end of October.

"I am certain we will need more as we go beyond the end of October. We have plans to go beyond 500,000 a day," Lady Harding said, before adding there was no formal target beyond the October deadline.

The test and trace programme has come under increasing pressure in recent days, with reports of people unable to access tests or being directed to test centres many miles away.

Figures published on Thursday also showed the turnaround time for community tests was getting longer. Only a third of these tests came back in 24 hours in the week up to 9 September, compared to two-thirds a week earlier.

It comes as the UK reported another 3,395 confirmed cases of coronavirus, and a further 21 deaths were recorded within 28 days of a positive test.

The number of people calling 119 and visiting the website to book tests was three to four times the number of available tests, Lady Harding told the committee - although she said that may exaggerate the problem as some people call repeatedly from different numbers.

Committee chairman Greg Clark said it was "dispiriting" that despite the "entirely predictable" circumstances of the return to schools and offices "we haven't had the right capacity put in place".

Lady Harding said they built the testing capacity for this autumn - which is now 242,817 a day - based on modelling from the Sage scientific advisory group.

"I don't think anybody was expecting to see the really sizable increase in demand that has happened over the last few weeks," she said.

In Sunderland, meanwhile, more than 100 people were left waiting at an empty car park where they said they had been booked in for Covid-19 testing, although no staff or equipment was there.

Bolton Council, which faces the highest levels of infection nationally, said it was "incredibly frustrated" after problems with the national booking system led to long queues and people with appointments being turned away.

Similar problems were reported in Lewisham, south London, where the approach to the centre was "gridlocked".

'Protect the capacity'

Lady Harding said testing was limited by the laboratory processing capacity, and that they had to restrict the number of people at centres because it would be "very dangerous" to send too many samples to the laboratory that would then go untested.

An NHS Test and Trace survey showed 27% of people seeking tests had no symptoms but had only been in contact with an infected person. Tests should only be provided for members of the public with a continuous cough, a high temperature or a change in sense of smell or taste.

"We don't want to push away people who are scared," Lady Harding said. But she added that they must "protect the capacity we have for the people who most need it".

The current priorities for testing are NHS patients, NHS staff and care home residents and staff. Together these account for 50% of testing, she said.

After that, areas with serious outbreaks are given priority. Lady Harding said they were looking at putting key workers next, particularly teachers, "but work is still ongoing".

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2020-09-17 16:30:00Z
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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.

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."

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".

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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Coronavirus: Test turnaround times getting longer in England - BBC News

People are waiting longer for coronavirus test results from England's community testing centres, figures show.

Only a third of tests carried out in these venues came back in 24 hours in the week up to 9 September.

That is down from two-thirds the week before, NHS Test and Trace said.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock admitted there was "a challenge in testing" as he faced criticism in the Commons.

He also announced new lockdown restrictions for most of the north east of England, where infections are on the rise.

Access to community testing has had to be rationed because labs are struggling to keep up with demand, but this is the first evidence tests which do happen are taking longer to process.

There are three types of community testing centres - drive-throughs, walk-in centres and mobile units that are deployed to hotspot areas.

All three saw rises in turnaround times.

Average turnaround times for regional drive-through centres rose from 20 to 27 hours, with 38% returned in 24 hours
For local walk-in centres the average was 35 hours, with just one in five results delivered in 24 hours
Mobile units faired best with an average of 26 hours, up from 19 the week before. Some 38% of results were given in 24 hours.

Over the week, 360,000 tests were carried out in these three settings, up from around 320,000 the week before.

The release of the turnaround times comes as growing numbers of people complain they cannot access tests at all.

Booking slots at testing sites, as well as the availability of kits that are posted out to people's homes, have been restricted across the UK because labs are not able to keep up with demand.

It has meant tests have had to be prioritised for high-risk areas, including care homes and areas where there are local outbreaks.

Shadow Health Secretary Jon Ashworth said the government must urgently fix test and trace to "avoid further restrictions", adding: "It's become not so much test and trace, more like trace a test."

And a succession of MPs raised the cases of constituents who had struggled to access tests.

Mr Hancock admitted there was "a challenge in testing", but said capacity was "at record levels" and had increased week on week but demand had "gone up faster".

He said it was important to prioritise testing in areas where cases are rising, as well as in care homes, saying "we must do everything in our power to protect residents in social care".

The government has announced care homes in England will receive extra funding of £546m to try to reduce transmission of coronavirus this winter.

'Boost testing capacity'

Experts are warning that testing problems will limit the UK's ability to contain spread of the virus.

Hospital labs, which process tests for patients and NHS staff, are not affected by the problems. Nearly nine in 10 tests there are turned around in 24 hours.

The government said testing capacity would be increasing. Currently 375,000 tests a day can be processed - although only around 160,000 of these are in the labs that process community tests.

For days software developers have been discussing what they described as a coding error on the government's Covid test booking site.

Now a senior source has confirmed that there is such an error although it is described as small and not a major factor in the issues with booking tests.

The problem, says the source, is that when the site is overwhelmed by the sheer volume of traffic - and "the load this week has been way higher than anything seen before" - users are getting the wrong error message.

It should read "the service is busy" but instead it says "there are no sites available".

Now, the reality is that mostly that is true, there are no testing sites free - but some people who might be successful if they tried later when the site traffic was lower may assume they can't get a test at all.

Two new labs are due to open soon, which would bring overall capacity to 500,000 by the end of October, with another two planned for early in 2021, the government said.

But NHS Test and Trace boss Baroness Dido Harding said it was important that "only those with symptoms book tests".

She added: "The service is there for those experiencing a high temperature, new continuous cough or loss or change in sense of taste or smell.

"If you don't have symptoms but think, or have been told by NHS Test and Trace that you have been in contact with someone with the virus, please stay at home but do not book a test.

"We need everyone to help make sure that tests are there for people with symptoms who need them."

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2020-09-17 14:03:45Z
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Coronavirus: New restrictions in north-east England - BBC News

Analysis

By Daniel Wainwright, BBC England data unit

Woman wearing a face mask walking through the centre of Newcastle

While the rates of new coronavirus infections in the affected parts of the north-east England are lower than those in places like Bolton, this is not a simply a case of rankings.

Rates of new infections in areas like South Tyneside and Sunderland are at their highest since May and have been climbing for the past few weeks.

Other areas affected by the new restrictions, such as Northumberland, have much lower rates per 100,000 population but it is clear that infections have been climbing there too.

Northumberland's rate of 25.7 cases per 100,000 in the week to 13 September means it is outside the top 100 of 315 areas of England for new infections.

However, when the government imposed tighter restrictions on Greater Manchester, the east of Lancashire and West Yorkshire in the summer, areas with lower rates were also included.

At the time, Wigan in Greater Manchester and Rossendale in Lancashire were not seeing the same rates of infection as their neighbouring boroughs and districts, but Public Health England included them because they were "part of an area in which overall infection rates are high, with household transmission a key pathway".

It will be the same for Northumberland, with people travelling to and from work in other areas of the North East.

Gateshead Council leader Martin Gannon said: "Nobody welcomes these things but I would think the vast majority of people recognise these are extremely difficult times and we all need to act and pull together."

Mr Hancock said the people of the North East would "come together" to beat the virus.

He said: "I know, the whole House knows, that these decisions have a real impact on families, on businesses and on local communities and I can tell everyone affected that we do not take these decisions lightly."

Map showing the number of cases areas in the North East have had

Shadow Health Secretary Jon Ashworth called for more testing capacity to be available in areas where there were tightened restrictions.

He said it was urgent the government "fixes testing, fixes tracing" or we face a "very bleak winter indeed".

Small businesses broadly welcomed the approach but called for more support to adapt to the new measures.

Man wearing a Newcastle United face mask

Simon Hanson, North East development manager for the Federation of Small Businesses, said: "It is absolutely critical that we get grant support to small and micro businesses quickly to help them adapt and provide some much needed support for cashflow."

However, the owner of a Newcastle restaurant described the new measures as "worrying" and a "bit of a nightmare".

Nick Greaves, who runs The Patricia in Jesmond, said shutting at 22:00 would put it in an "awkward position" as it would lose one of its later sittings.

"We have come so far to get back on our feet and now we are back down in this saga again", he said.

"It could even be a little bit dangerous with people going to the pub, necking as much as they can and then they end up drunk and are like 'let's go to a house or something'.

"I can't get my head around how that's going to help anything.

"The virus is still as dangerous before 10pm as it is afterwards."

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2020-09-17 13:31:00Z
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