My director of public health in Gateshead is very concerned that despite the fact that the number of cases in Gateshead has gone up from 18 to 33 to 38 of Covid-19 in the last fortnight, our testing capacity has just gone – it has just dried up, completely evaporated.
At the latest count we only have enough tests to start in the morning at 8 o’clock and completely run out by 10.
That has significant problems for equalities issues in terms of the people who can get tested and where they can be tested and when they can be tested.
Our director of public health would like the government to do something about this and increase testing capacity.
It isn’t just important in those areas which are hot spots, it’s important everywhere – particularly where local communities are seeing an increase in the number of cases.
