UK COVID test shortage in coronavirus hot spots as virus cases surge

Описание: The government’s testing regime has been criticised for failing to have enough capacity to cope with demand, with reports showing there were no COVID-19 tests available in the top 10 coronavirus hotspots in England.

The UK has seen a surge in coronavirus cases in recent days, with the so-called R rate of the virus increasing to between 1 and 1.2, meaning the virus is spreading at the fastest rate since March. More than 200,000 tests are being processed each day, however there is a backlog of over 185,000 tests according to newspaper reports. Some tests are having to be processed abroad leading to delays.

Ministers say the bottle-kneck in testing is in labs where the swabs must be processed. This has led to hundreds of people with COVID-19 symptoms having to wait up to 5 days for a result of a test. It was reported on Monday that when requesting a test in Public Health England’s ‘watch list’ areas a message appears saying "This service is currently very busy. More tests should be available later.” The issue appears to now be resolved with home testing kits now available.


From Brexit breaking news to HD movie trailers, The Sun newspaper brings you the latest news videos and explainers from the UK and around the world.

Become a Sun Subscriber and hit the bell to be the first to know

Read The Sun: http://www.thesun.co.uk
Like The Sun on Facebook:   / thesun  
Follow The Sun on Twitter:   / thesun  
Subscribe to The Sun on Snapchat:   / 1633225139