Four Key Coronavirus Questions The Government Failed To Answer At The Daily Briefing
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The World Health Organisation has been clear – the key message for countries tackling coronavirus is “test, test, test”.
But the government has now failed for days to answer clearly why the UK is lagging woefully behind other countries like Germany in its testing for Covid-19.
Just 2,000 out of 1.2m NHS workers have been tested for the virus, while more widely the UK is operating under its 12,750-a-day capacity. The figures pale in comparison to Germany, which is carrying out hundreds of thousands of tests a week.
Ministers are also facing rising anger over the lack of personal protective equipment (PPE) for frontline workers.
Business secretary Alok Sharma and Yvonne Doyle, director of health protection for Public Health England (PHE), were sent into the firing line at Wednesday’s Downing Street press conference to try address those concerns.
But they failed to properly answer four key questions.
Why Germany has more tests
Sharma was asked to give a full and proper explanation of why Germany is able to test many more times the number of people than the UK – a question that has plagued the government for days.
Asked whether Germany had more labs and equipment, was perhaps making better use of universities or the private sector, or was even using a better or quicker test, Sharma would only say: “We of course look to see where we can learn throughout this process and of course we are working with industry and we are working with the scientific community to make sure we have maximum possible supplies.”
Targets for more tests
The pair were told that just 0.16% of NHS staff had been tested, and asked to name a target for this time next week.
Doyle said: “The intention there is to go from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands. That will have to go on the basis of the priority identified as to which of these workers are actually needed in...
