Government 'on track' to meet daily target of 100,000 tests by end of April, health minister Edward Argar says

Officials 'massively ramping up efforts' to meet target as army is deployed to help establish mobile testing facilities
The Government has expanded its restrictions on testing eligibility to all key workers
PA
David Child27 April 2020

Health minister Edward Argar has said the Government is on target to reach 100,000 coronavirus tests per day by Thursday.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock has pledged to hit that figure by the end of April, but ministers have been increasingly talking about “capacity” in response to questions on this topic in recent days.

The health secretary did not use the word “capacity” in relation to the 100,000 target when announcing the goal on April 2.

Asked on Monday if the Government would deliver on Mr Hancock's promise, Mr Argar said officials were "massively ramping up the efforts to do this".

“There is a few days to go but we are confident that we are on target for that, not least with the expansion last week with who is eligible to actually access those tests now," he told LBC.

“It is huge numbers of people and we have seen how many have tried to access those tests in the past few days."

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said at the weekend that the testing capacity had risen to more than 50,000 - although according to the latest official figures the numbers carried out have only reached 29,000.

The Army is being deployed across the UK to help establish mobile facilities for testing that can be set up in less than 20 minutes and allow hundreds of people to be tested each day.

That comes after the Government last week expanded its restrictions on testing eligibility, with the list now including all NHS and social care staff as well as other key workers, such as police officers, teachers, social workers, undertakers, journalists and those who work in supermarkets and food production.

However, tests for key workers via the government’s booking website ran out quickly for the third day in a row yesterday.

Following its launch on Friday, slots for both home-testing and drive-through centres in England were used up within the first few hours.

Reports over the weekend suggested that some NHS staff were waiting 25 days to receive their test results.

Mr Argar said the Government would investigate those reports, adding results should be made available "within around 48 hours".

“Longer delays than that – and there may be in some cases a scientific, clinical reason why a particular test doesn’t work or is delayed," he told LBC.

“But that is not something people should have to wait for.”

He added: “The overwhelming majority are being done within 48 hours.

“I haven’t had any reports of significant numbers being significantly delayed but I’m always happy to look into that. And if there are delays, we will fix them.”

Speaking separately to BBC Breakfast concerning ongoing social distancing rules, Mr Argar said it was too soon for any relaxation of the nationwide lockdown, adding it had "made a real difference" in the battle against coronavirus.

"I understand the frustrations that people are having with these measures, they are restrictive and they are very difficult," he said.

But, he added: "We’re not in a place where the science says it is safe to ease the restrictions."

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