THE Government has pledged to up testing capacity again but still won’t give a clear timeline.
Business Secretary Alok Sharma said that increasing testing was the “top priority” – and that 10,000 tests are now being carried out a day.
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Yet just 2,000 frontline NHS England staff have been tested for coronavirus.
Speaking at the Downing Street press briefing, Mr Sharma said: “Increasing testing capacity is absolutely the Government’s top priority.
“We’re now at 10,000 tests a day, we’re rolling out additional networks of labs and testing sites.
“And in terms of PHE (PPE), over the last two weeks 390 million products have been distributed.
“And of course we will continue to do more and work to make sure that PHE (PPE) is available.”
Professor Yvonne Doyle, medical director of Public Health England, who was also at the briefing, said the Government was confident and committed to getting that figure up to 25,000 a day.
She said: “The NHS and PHE committed to make 10,000 tests a day available.
“We have met that target by the end of March, early April, and we have some more capacity.
“And our commitment is actually to go to 25,000 tests a day and we are confident with our industry partners that we will achieve that.”
Second peak fears
Mr Sharma also warned a “dangerous” second peak of cases could develop if the social distancing measures imposed by the Government were lifted too early.
He said: “People will understand across the country why we have put these restrictions in place and the Prime Minister was very clear they were for an initial three-week period and we would review them.
“But what’s also really important is that if we stop these too quickly, there is a possibility that that massive effort people have made across the country is wasted and we could potentially see a dangerous second peak.
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“We absolutely want to avoid that.”
Prof Doyle added: “I think it is important to say we are looking at this through the scientific lens, as well as through modelling and through the information we are getting through clinical cases as to how this epidemic is progressing.
“We will be guided by that. We obviously want to make the right call at the right time on this and it is something that we have to keep reviewing every week.”
Deaths rise
The Government has been under increasing pressure over Covid-19 testing as the UK experienced its biggest day-on-day rise in deaths so far.
Some 2,352 patients had died in hospital after testing positive for the virus as of 5pm on Tuesday, the Department of Health said, up by 563 from 1,789 the day before.
It comes as Downing Street said more than 2,000 NHS staff have been tested for coronavirus as the Government faces intense scrutiny over its policy on testing.
Around 8,000 test per days are currently being carried out across the UK even though ministers previously claimed a target of 10,000 tests per day had been hit.
Hospital tests
At present, the focus is on testing patients in hospital to see if they have coronavirus, with NHS trusts told earlier in the week they should use up to 15 per cent of any spare testing capacity for NHS staff.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock has now scrapped that cap, telling NHS hospital labs to use all spare capacity to test their frontline workers.
A letter from NHS England tells trusts to “max out” lab capacity to test staff, adding this “means immediate action please to ‘industrialise’ staff swabbing processes”.
The Government has blamed a global lack of reagents needed to carry out tests, though the chemical industry in the UK suggested there were no shortages.
On Wednesday, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman told a Westminster briefing more than 2,000 NHS staff had now been tested, adding: “We’re very clear that we want more testing to be carried out, and that we are working with NHS England, Public Health England and others to ensure that happens.”
Coronavirus testing: What is the difference between antigen and antibody tests?
Coronavirus tests are key to getting a clearer idea of the scale of the outbreak in the UK and getting a handle on it.
In recent days, there’s been a lot of talk about the two different types of tests that the government are ramping up.
The government refers to them as the ‘have you got it’ antigen test or the ‘have you had it’ antibody test.
Here we explain the difference between the two…
What is an antigen test?
Antigens are found on the surface of invading pathogens, including coronavirus.
Testing for antigens can determine whether someone is currently carrying the virus and are actively infectious.
The NHS is currently using antigen tests in hospitals to determine if someone is currently infected with Covid-19.
Samples are taken using a swab – which resemble a large cotton bud – from deep inside the nose and throat before being sent off to a lab for testing.
Most labs use a method called the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), which takes several hours to get a result.
It can take days for labs to run the tests and tell people their result.
Several companies are working on ways to fast track this type of testing.
What is an antibody test?
When a person gets infected with antigen, the body starts making specially designed proteins called antibodies in response – as a way to fight the infection.
After they recover, those antibodies float in the blood for months, maybe even years.
That’s the body’s way of defending itself in case it becomes infected with the virus again.
So an antibody test specifically looks for antibodies which will be able to tell whether you’ve already been exposed to Covid-19.
Anyone who has already had the illness is presumed to be immune to getting it again – at least, in the intermediate term.
This would allow them to go back to work safe in the knowledge that they are unlikely to become infected again or pass the virus on.
The check that has been developed for Covid-19 is a finger-prick blood test, with the samples sent to laboratories and results available within a few days.
Dr Hilary Jones, a GP and resident doctor on Good Morning Britain, explained that it works “almost like a pregnancy test, except you need a drop of blood”.
These tests are being developed by several different firms and Public Health England (PHE) is also working on its own test.
They still need to be validated to ensure they give accurate results.
Housing and Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick admitted on Wednesday that just 900 NHS staff were tested over the weekend as staff testing is rolled out.
He told Radio 4’s Today programme: “Clearly that’s a low number but one we want to build on significantly.
“We now have capacity today to be testing 12,750 people and we expect that within a couple of days to be 15,000.
“So we should now have the growing capacity to test NHS staff in addition to the patients in critical care.”
Mr Jenrick denied the Government and Public Health England (PHE) would only agree to centralised testing after claims from scientists and universities that their offers of help have been rejected.
He said the Government was willing to “work with any provider” who had the “right infrastructure and skills” and urged them to get in touch.
The minister also said he expects there to be 25,000 tests per day by the “middle of April”.
Asked when the national coronavirus testing centre near Milton Keynes would be fully operational, Mr Jenrick replied: “I don’t know precisely when that’s going to be coming on board.
“Everything is being brought forward as quickly as it possibly can.”
A senior health official has said that the UK has the capacity to test a many as 100,000 a day – but a “global swab shortage” is limiting that to 13,000.
NHS Providers boss Chris Hopson said that if existing NHS pathology labs “had unlimited swabs and reagent, there would be enough test machine capacity to process around 100,000 tests a day”.
He added: “It’s important to understand the constraints. Recognise view of chemical industry but trust leaders tell us major shortages of swabs and chemicals/reagents needed to complete tests.
“There is a global shortage. But everyone is doing everything they can to maximise supply.”
Frustration
NHS staff have expressed frustration that they are being forced to self-isolate just as they are most needed, because tests are not available to show whether they are clear of the disease.
Meanwhile, experts have blasted the Government for urging the NHS to carry out more testing, but then saying there aren’t enough to meet demand.
Dr Al Edwards, School of Pharmacy, University of Reading, said: “It’s hard to square the government suggestion that centrally we are running out of chemicals, with the comment this morning from Matt Hancock that local hospitals can use spare lab space to test staff – how can they do this if there aren’t enough reagents to do tests centrally?”
However, some scientists have said ramping up testing in the UK will be difficult.
Stephen Baker, professor of molecular microbiology at the University of Cambridge, said: “There are multiple issues with setting up new diagnostic testing capacity outside of regular diagnostic laboratories.
“This is not an overnight solution. Research laboratories have different approaches, equipment and staff.”
He said multiple steps were required to ensure tests are done properly and results are correctly validated, adding : “There is nothing more dangerous at the moment than reporting incorrect negative or positive results to staff or patients.”
