Britons struggled to book coronavirus test on Government’s new online system today as Ministers race to meet their 100,000 daily target by the end of next week.
Some ten million key workers and their households are now eligible for the tests, but the website was already telling them as early as 8.30am that today’s allocation of home kits had been issued – and they could only apply for drive-through testing.
Others took to social media to complain that the process was ‘not simple’ or that they could not find a category for their job role, despite Health Secretary Matt Hancock claiming the process was straightforward and ‘a bit like booking a flight’.
And some people got an error message saying there is a ‘problem with your order’, asking them to contact the system’s service desk on a freephone number.
Mr Hancock said that people whose work is critical to the Covid-19 response, and those they live with, will be able to register for a test if they have symptoms.
NHS staff, police officers, teachers, social workers, undertakers, journalists and those who work in supermarkets and food production are among those now eligible.
Some people got an error message saying there is a ‘problem with your order’, asking them to contact the service desk on a freephone number
The website was already telling key workers as early as 8.30am today that today’s allocation of home kits had been issued – and they could only apply for drive-through testing
But mother-of-two Kama Phillips, from Plymouth, Devon, tweeted: ‘Tried to book a Covid test as I’m classed as a key worker and can send my children to school as our hardware store has been classed as essential and wasn’t allowed to shut.
‘When trying to book there’s no category for my job role, so which is it? What category should I fall under?’
Twitter user Phill Dunn added: ‘Not a simple process to book an essential worker Covid-19 test. Website sends you around all avenues, never did find the link.’
And Darren Peers tweeted: ‘It’s so hard to arrange a test on gov.uk. My wife is an essential worker who is a courier and her workload has doubled.
‘She is self employed and there is no option for this also to include your family. There is only an option for employers.’
The first stage of the coronavirus testing application on the gov.uk website is pictured above
Key workers are asked whether they want to visit a regional site or request a home test kit
Meanwhile there were claims that the drive-through testing centre at Chessington World of Adventures in Surrey had lost some test results of NHS staff.
Results were also allegedly sent to the wrong person, with some doctors and nurses raising the alarm when their results never arrived, reported the Guardian.
There were also claims by the newspaper that the test centre could not call through with the diagnosis because it had failed to record correct phone numbers.
The Department for Health said last night that 49 people had faced delays and 39 had now got their results. Officials are still investigating the remaining number.
The site has been operated privately by the accounting firm Deloitte, which said it was hired to ‘help accelerate and scale testing capacity’.
Key workers are tested for Covid-19 at Chessington World of Adventures in Surrey yesterday
Staff put up a banner as people arrive for tests at Chessington World of Adventures yesterday
The announcement over testing came as researchers at the University of Oxford began human trials for a potential coronavirus vaccine candidate. In other news:
- The number of people who have died with coronavirus in UK hospitals rose by 638 to 18,738 as at 5pm on Wednesday, but the total toll is likely to be several thousand higher when those who have died in care homes and the community are included.
- Ministers came under further pressure to set out the Government’s lockdown exit strategy after Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said the lifting of restrictions north of the border would be a phased process.
- US president Donald Trump said Boris Johnson sounded ‘ready to go’ when they spoke on the phone this week, following reports in the Telegraph that the Prime Minister is preparing to return to work on Monday.
- Welsh First Minister Mark Drakeford will on Friday set out seven key questions which will determine when restrictions can be lifted.
- The Government’s chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance said the evidence on face masks ‘has always been quite variable, quite weak and difficult to know’, as ministers review the recommendations of Sage, the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies.
- Two RAF aircraft carrying mostly gowns but also masks and gloves arrived from Turkey at Brize Norton in Oxfordshire on Thursday night and early on Friday morning.
- The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and their three children joined in the nationwide weekly clap for carers on Thursday, as more than £27 million was donated during BBC One’s charity special The Big Night In, with the Government promising to double the total.
Mr Hancock said the new online booking system will be key to the Government reaching its target of 100,000 coronavirus tests a day by the end of the month.
Speaking on BBC Breakfast, he said: ‘Not as many people have been coming for (a test) as we had expected.
‘Of course that was a problem but it’s a good problem because it means we’ve been able to expand who can get a test faster than we had planned.’
Mr Hancock said results of the Covid-19 test for most people would be available within 24 hours, but for some it would take a little longer.
He said the Government was also introducing home test kits that are then collected by a courier to prevent people having to travel long distances.
‘They will start in small numbers but that service will grow, and I think that will be a popular service as it increasingly becomes available.’
Health Secretary Matt Hancock told ITV’s Good Morning Britain today (above) that he was ‘carefully’ watching to ensure the website could handle the expected online traffic
Mr Hancock said there had been fewer people coming forward for a test than expected, but blamed this on the complexity of the booking process before the new online system was introduced.
‘Previously you had to go through your employer because we didn’t have this IT system in place.
‘All of this was being built as we go and the IT for the system we launched today only got finished yesterday.’
He added: ‘(Previously) you had to go through your employer and your employer then had to apply – now you can just go online.’
Mr Hancock said employers can still book on behalf of their staff if that is the easiest route.
Mr Hancock also said today that the contact tracing operation would be functioning in a ‘matter of weeks’.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘It will be up and running in a matter of weeks and the 18,000 we plan to recruit is really just the start.
‘Because the combination of mass testing and contact tracing alongside it, both with people doing the contact tracing and with technology, a new app that will help to identify who people have been close to – these things are so crucial to holding down the rate and level of transmission of the disease.
‘They work far better when there are fewer new cases but, if they work as they have done in other countries, then they will be able to hold down the number of new cases with fewer social distancing restrictions, which is why they are so important to get in place in large scale.’
Earlier on Good Morning Britain, Mr Hancock said he was ‘carefully’ watching to ensure the website could handle the expected online traffic.
He said: ‘As with all ‘switch-ons’ of IT systems, that’s always a moment when you’re running it that you concentrate on it very carefully, shall I put it that way?
‘That switch-on has gone live this morning.’
Mr Hancock added that the number of test centres available was being expanded from 30 to 50 and said a home testing kit would become available.
He said: ‘We are also introducing home tests, in small numbers at first, and we will ramp that up so you can get the test posted to your home, you self-administer it – you follow a video that is on the internet and the instructions on the test – a courier then comes and picks up your test, takes it back to our labs and you get the result.
‘We are absolutely dealing with that access issue.’
Mr Hancock set out his plans for ‘easier, faster and simpler’ testing so that more people can access a Covid-19 test to tell them whether they have the virus.
He said people can register for a test on the gov.uk website.
People will then receive a text or email with an appointment at a drive-through centre or can request a home test kit, although the latter are currently in limited supply.
A help desk has been established to aid the process, while mobile units run by the Army are travelling around the country to where they are needed, such as care homes.
Test results from the drive-through sites will be sent out by text within 48 hours, and within 72 hours of collection of the home delivery tests.
At the daily Downing Street briefing, Mr Hancock said the capacity for carrying out tests was now ‘ahead of our plans’, with the ability to carry out more than 51,000 tests a day.
‘Because capacity has now increased so substantially, we are now able to expand who can get the tests,’ he said.
‘Our ultimate goal is that everyone who could benefit from a test gets a test.’
Essential workers will be able to book coronavirus tests direct, while companies will also be able to book them for employees.
It comes as the UK marked a month in lockdown this week, with a review of the restrictions next due to take place on May 7.