Vital PPE could take ‘a few days’ to arrive from Turkey as a bumbling minister squirmed under a grilling on the coronavirus crisis.
It comes amid reports the Government didn’t formally ask Turkey for help with the shipment of protective equipment for the NHS until Sunday, despite Downing Street boasting on Saturday that it would arrive the following day.
Local Government minister Simon Clarke also claimed the UK was seeing “exponential improvement” of testing capacity, despite the figure decreasing the day before.
Asked what was happening to the shipment from Turkey, Mr Clarke told the BBC: “I’m really pleased to say we dispatched the RAF yesterday evening to go and collect this so it can come to British Hospitals at the first opportunity.”
But pressed on whether it had left Turkey, Mr Clarke said he “couldn’t speak to that.”
He said: “It will be with us, obviously in the UK in the next few days, which is the core priority.”
He added: ”Clearly when you are dealing with variables outside your control there’s always a degree of risk. This particular shipment has excited a lot of attention.
“It’s obviously important but it does need to be viewed in the context of the almost 1bn pieces of PPE that we’ve so far distributed across the NHS and care sector.”
Earlier, Sky News reported the UK had not asked Turkey for essential help getting the shipment to the UK until Sunday.
Yesterday, Number 10 blamed “unexpected delays” on the shipment not having left Turkey.
Turning to testing, Mr Clarke said it was “highly unfair” to suggest that the Government’s ambition to reach 100,000 tests by the end of the month is not “empirically grounded”.
And he claimed: “We are seeing exponential improvement in terms of our testing capabilities so the current ability to test stands at 36,000 a day.”
In fact, that figure is 2,000 lower than the 38,000 previously announced by Number 10.
“We are absolutely determined across the whole of the UK to hit this target,” Mr Clarke said.
“As I say, we are going to move from 26 current testing facilities to 50. That will in turn obviously bring those centres closer to more people and make it more viable to go there.
“We’re increasing the groups of key workers who can go and be tested.”
He added: “I really do think it is unfair to suggest that we have continued business as usual. It has not been. It has been an extraordinary response that has saved lives and saved jobs, and I think on both counts we’ve done a lot of good work which is standing us in good stead.”
