The UK’s coronavirus testing system is overloaded and the government’s health chief has identified the culprits: people who get tested despite not having COVID-19 symptoms.
Matt Hancock, Minister of State for Health and Social Care, said in an interview with Sky on Wednesday, “In recent weeks we have seen an increase in demand … including those who are not eligible for testing, who have no symptoms . Isn’t it. “News.” About 25% of people who have no symptoms and are not eligible. “
These are apparently responsible for a situation where others are asked to travel hundreds of miles to get tested, and many who try to apply online, symptomatic or not, receive an error message.
A prominent figure in the UK testing regime has also indicated that the problem is not a restriction on the testing center’s capacity, but rather on the country’s ability to process samples.
Hancock cited examples of “inappropriate” tests, such as a school that sends a full-year-old group to tests and people get tested before the holidays. Health officials around the world have another name for this: “safety testing,” and they believe it is one of our best tools to combat the spread of the virus in the absence of a vaccine.
In the UK, it has been the case since mid-May that anyone experiencing the symptoms of COVID-19 – a new and persistent cough, high temperature, loss of smell or taste – has been able to get tested to confirm if they have the virus. or not. Processing up to 200,000 tests per day, UK testing rates compare well to neighboring Germany, where just over 1 million tests are performed each week.
The tests are at the heart of the National Health Service (NHS) test and trace program, which aims to detect and isolate people exposed to carriers.
But it has long been known that many carriers of the new coronavirus show no symptoms, but are still contagious. In June, Hancock himself presented figures from the Office for National Statistics that showed, in his words, “that between 70% and 80% of people who test positive have no symptoms.”
“This is a very important discovery and one of the important things about this disease,” he said at the time.
Also in June, Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Dido Harding, director of the Test and Trace program, complained that not enough symptomatic people were reserving coronavirus tests.
Harding said at the time, “We have more testing capability and we have more tracking capability,” while Johnson said that “there’s a lot more capacity.”
Verge of collapse
Hancock said Wednesday that the government “had already put in place certain solutions” to ensure that no one has to travel more than 75 miles to perform a test. He said capacity was continually increasing, but there is “a problem with a couple of contracts” that is holding back further expansion.
Harding Deputy Sarah-Jane Marsh reported on Tuesday that the issue was not of capacity at the test sites, but our lab processing is the tipping point.
Keer Starr, the head of the opposition Labor Party, said on Tuesday that the test and trace system was “on the verge of breakdown”.
Like several other European countries, the UK has seen its coronavirus infection figures skyrocket in recent weeks. Now we add thousands of new cases to the statistics every day, and that’s without testing for asymptomatic people.
On Tuesday, Hancock’s health department issued its latest localized coronavirus restrictions, this time affecting the town of Bolton, near Manchester, in northern England. Restaurants in Bolton can now only serve takeout, and no one can socialize with people outside their home, even if they are outdoors.
Starting Monday, all social gatherings of more than six people will become illegal in England, not including gatherings at workplaces, schools, weddings, funerals and organized team sports.
