Matt Hancock pledges 100,000 a day will take coronavirus test after shambles… but not for weeks

MATT Hancock has tonight pledged to test 100,000 Brits a day for coronavirus after the shambles of recent days – but it won’t be for weeks to come.

As the Health Secretary’s voice croaked after he came back from fighting the virus himself, he revealed a new plan to tackle the deadly bug with a huge ramping up of tests.

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Another 569 people were confirmed to have died of Covid-19 this afternoon – taking the UK total to more than 2,900.

His five point plan to get to 100,000 tests a day by the end of April – and 250,000 after that – included:

1. A vow to carry out 25,000 swab tests a day in NHS hospitals and PHE labs to test patients for Covid-19, by the end of April – up from 10k a day now
2. Creation of new swab testing capacity with help of commercial partners including Amazon, Boots and universities in new labs and testing sites for NHS staff and their families
3. ‘Game-changing’ antibody tests to tell if people have had coronavirus, and are immune to it. Finger-prick blood test takes as little as 20 minutes, and Government is working with nine companies to test whether they work. But could take up to 28 days to show best results
4. Virus surveillance, using the antibody test to understand the rate of infection and how the virus is spreading across the UK. Key to helping us exit the crisis.
5. Build the British diagnostic industry “at scale” – with the pharmaceutical industry, including major drugs firms Astra Zeneca and GSK

All NHS staff will be able to have a test by the end of the month, he promised.

“That is the goal and I’m determined were going to get there,” Mr Hancock insisted.

He also revealed that several of the tests the Government had been offered up to use were not accurate – with up to three out of four positive cases missed.

He said that approving those tests would be “dangerous, and I will not do it”, stressing he will continue to search for ones that work to roll out.

The Health Secretary warned that the road ahead would be filled with “bumps” but stressed he returned to work “more determined than ever to fight this disease”. “We’ll bring together the best minds, the best science that this country has to offer and we’ll work with our friends and allies across the world to do so,” he promised.

“This is a war against an invisible illness that all of humanity need to come together to fight against.”

The Government plans to roll out immunity passports to all people who can prove they’ve already had the virus, he confirmed too.

This is a war against an invisible illness that all of humanity need to come together to fight against

Matt Hancock

The news comes after fury that the UK has been unable to test anywhere near the numbers seen in countries like Germany.

Furious staff who want to get back to work are staying off due to fears they may have the bug – with up to one in four staying away from the frontline.

Ministers blamed a lack of chemical agents and swabs yesterday.

And Mr Hancock stressed too that “we have the best scientific labs in the world, but we did not have the scale” to ramp them up.

This morning just a few cars were lined up for a drive-through testing centre in Chessington, amid confusion and a lack of communication about how staff isolating at home were meant to access a test.

More than 5,000 NHS staff have been tested so far after Mr Hancock ordered any extra space to be used for them.

The Health Secretary sadly admitted that the UK was “still seeing number of deaths increase and unfortunately I think that will continue for a few weeks yet”.

The press conference was Mr Hancock’s first outing since he was diagnosed with coronavirus himself, a week ago, and he said he was “delighted to be back” at work.

He started with a heartfelt tribute to Britain’s hardworking NHS, before insisting he was right to make sure that sick patients got the tests they needed first before rolling out testing across the nation.

The response from the NHS so far has been “nothing short of heroic”, he said.

Mr Hancock gave a “shout out” to all the health and care staff and the hard work they have been doing to save lives – hailing the Clap For Carers which took place last Thursday – backed by The Sun.

Tonight will see another round take place across the entire country to applaud the hardworking NHS staff.

He added: “I think so many of us felt so emotional when that happened last week and the whole country responded like it did.

“I know it’s something The Sun has been leading the charge on and I pay tribute to your work in making sure that every single health and social worker across the NHS and across social care and other public servants know they are valued for the work they are doing, sometimes very dangerous work, to tackle this virus.”

The Health Secretary also used the press conference to call on Premier League footballers to do their bit and take a pay cut during the coronavirus outbreak.

“The first thing they can do is make a contribution, take a pay cut and play their part,” he urged tonight.

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The PM’s spokesman said earlier today: “We acknowledge that more needs to be done.

“We need to be testing more people… and testing more people quickly.”

10,412 UK tests took place in NHS and PHE labs on Tuesday, No10 said today.

Last night the PM said testing would solve the “puzzle” of coronavirus by allowing people who had the virus or have it currently to get back into action when they can.

He admitted for the first time that testing as many people as possible would be the best way to eventually end the lockdown and beat the bug.

No10 said they were still in talks with nine companies about using anti-body tests which will show if someone had it in the past – but they haven’t yet passed the required safety tests.

Ministers have bought 17.5million of them – subject to them working.

Meanwhile, No10 also suggested that Brits could get a coronavirus immunity certificate to carry around with them in future to allow them to travel freely.

“We have always said we will watch what other countries are doing and we will always look to learn from ideas which are helpful,” they said.

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Eight Public Health England labs are now working on corona testing – and 44 from the NHS.

A whole new base in Milton Keynes opened last week – and two more are set for Cheshire and Glasgow too.

Government sourced machines from nearly 100 universities and companies to open the new MK lag and “not a single institution refused”.

New swabs have been manufactured too so that manufacturers can pump them out of factories and get them across the country for more tests, too.