The Government was facing fresh questions over its coronavirus testing regime tonight as the number carried out fell by more than 40 per cent in just four days. Some 69,463 took place in the 24 hours to 9am today, according to Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick. That figure is just 57 per cent of the 122,327 … Read more
The government’s testing co-ordinator insisted people should not get ‘hung up on targets’ today as he argued the goal for 100,000 checks a day had been met. Prof John Newton brushed off a row over whether the numbers had been cooked, stressing the big picture was capacity had risen sharply and there would always be … Read more
A Nobel Prize-winning biologist has branded the Government’s 100,000 coronavirus tests per day target a ‘PR stunt’ as it emerged that it was ‘likely’ to be hit on time. Sir Paul Nurse, chief executive of biomedical research centre the Francis Crick Institute, also tore into the strategy on Question Time last night and said it … Read more
Matt Hancock‘s target of testing 100,000 people a day for coronavirus ‘could come back and bite him’, Downing Street sources have reportedly warned. The health secretary made the pledge on April 2 at a daily coronavirus press briefing, saying by May 1, Britain should be testing people at the rate of 100,000-a-day. Currently the British Government … Read more
This morning the government’s carefully constructed strategy for dealing with coronavirus fell apart when Health Secretary Matt Hancock lost his temper in two media confrontations. First, a feisty exchange with the Today programme’s Nick Robinson, and then on ITV’s Good Morning Britain he exploded in a combative exchange with Piers Morgan. Two meltdowns in less … Read more