Coronavirus: Government misses COVID-19 testing target for fourth day in a row

The government has failed to meet its coronavirus testing target for the fourth day in a row.

Latest figures show 69,463 COVID-19 tests were conducted in the 24 hours to 9am on Wednesday, well short of the 100,000 benchmark.

The total was 84,806 up to 9am on Tuesday, 85,186 up to 9am on Monday and 76,496 up to 9am on Sunday.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock pledged that Britain would be carrying out 100,000 daily tests for the virus by the end of April.

The government said this milestone was reached on the last day of the month, with more than 122,347 tests on 30 April.

But this total included more than 40,000 home testing kits that had been sent out and not returned, including several which people were told to bin.

Opponents accused the government of manipulating the figures in order to reach the target.

But ministers rejected this and hailed a considerable boost in testing capacity within a matter of weeks.

Speaking to Sky News on Wednesday, Mr Hancock claimed Britain was “miles ahead” and now a world leader on testing.

He said: “We invented the test in January. In February we got the number of tests up to 2,000 (a day). In March we multiplied that by five times to 10,000. Then we set the 100,000 target.

“The Germans started with this enormous diagnostics industry. But if you look at other countries around the world we are miles ahead on testing and we are now one of the world leaders.

“It is true that Germany has a very high capacity – about the same as ours. So we have basically caught up with Germany that started with this massive capability.

“We are miles ahead of South Korea now. Absolutely.”

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Reacting to the latest testing figures, Labour’s shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth said: “Far from delivering on the promise of 100,000 completed tests a day, testing numbers have now fallen four days in a row.

“A test, trace and isolate strategy is crucial to tackling this virus.

“Ministers need to explain why the number of tests being completed daily is falling rather than rising.”

And Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner said it “does not inspire confidence” in plans to begin easing the UK’s lockdown.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson earlier said he wanted the UK to reach 200,000 tests a day by the end of May.

Downing Street later clarified that this was for capacity, rather than the number of tests carried out.

The issue of testing was raised by Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer at PMQs – his first clash with the PM since his election last month.

“On April 30, the government claimed success in meeting its 100,000 tests a day target. Since then, as the prime minister knows, the number has fallen back,” Sir Keir said.

“On Monday, there were just 84,000 tests and that meant 24,000 available tests were not used.

“What does the prime minister think was so special about April 30 that meant that testing that day was so high?”

The PM said in response: “Yes, he’s right that capacity currently exceeds demand, we’re working on that, we’re running at about 100,000 a day, but the ambition clearly is to get up to 200,000 a day by the end of this month and then to go even higher.

“And as he knows and the whole House will know, a fantastic testing regime is going to be absolutely critical to our long-term economic recovery.”

England’s chief scientific adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance, told MPs on Tuesday that it would have been “beneficial” if the UK’s testing capacity had been increased more quickly.

“I think that probably we, in the early phases, and I’ve said this before, I think if we’d managed to ramp up testing capacity quicker it would have been beneficial,” he said.

England’s deputy chief medical officer, Dr Jenny Harries, told the same committee of MPs that limited resources required a balance to be struck at the time.

But she added that “if we had unlimited capacity, and the ongoing support beyond that, then we perhaps would choose a slightly different approach”.

(c) Sky News 2020: Coronavirus: Government misses COVID-19 testing target for fourth day in a row