A FIFTH of the UK’s 10.5million coronavirus tests have not been processed, government admits – as ministers AXE figures on how many people have been screened claiming they do not ‘reflect reality’
- Government figures show a fifth of 10.5million coronavirus tests not processed
- No10 admits that many people posted home tests have not been returning them
- Ministers have abandoned producing figures on the number of people tested
Ministers are facing more questions over coronavirus testing today after it emerged a fifth of those counted have not been processed.
Official figures show 10.5million tests have been made available, but only eight million have been through labs and completed.
The details raise fresh questions about the decision to count tests when they are posted out to individuals and hospitals, rather than when they are processed. Matt Hancock has been forced to deny claims the tactic was adopted so he could hit his target for 100,000 tests a day by the end of April.
Meanwhile, it has emerged that ministers are axing figures on how many people have been tested, arguing that they do not reflect reality.
Data on the number of people screened was routinely published earlier in the crisis, but it has not appeared for some weeks, with technical problems being blamed.
Downing Street confirmed this afternoon that the figures are being abandoned altogether.
The PM’s spokesman said the information did not show the true scale of the testing effort, as some people would be checked more than once.
Official figures show 10.5million tests have been made available, but only eight million have been through labs and completed
New figures issued by the Department of Health today revealed that since testing started a total of 10.5million tests have been ‘made available’ but only eight million of those have been ‘processed’.
Number 10 accepted that some people were not sending their test back for examination after receiving a home kit.
However, there are no official data on how many of the more than 3.2million tests posted out have not been returned.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman told reporters: ‘It will be the case that some members of the public may order a test and then for whatever reason they choose not to return that test.
‘Obviously, if people are ordering tests it is entirely right that we should provide them with one.’
The spokesman said he had not seen a ‘verified number on this’ when the DHSC figures were put to him.
No10 said the decision to stop revealing how many people had been tested every day was because the statistic did not take into account someone who had been tested multiple times since the outbreak started.
The figure has not been made public for several weeks.
The PM’s spokesman said: ‘DHSC will no longer publish the number of people tested daily anymore and will instead publish the number of daily tests processed.
‘This is because the daily people tested statistic only counts new people being tested.
‘For example, someone who is tested in February and then tested again this month will only be counted once.
‘Considering hospital and care home staff are now being tested on a regular basis, we don’t think this statistic would be an accurate reflection of the amount of daily testing that is taking place.
‘Test and trace statistics published weekly will still include the number of people who have been tested.’
Number 10 said that, in the 24 hours up to 9am on Sunday a total of 164,849 tests had been provided and the testing capacity for the day stood at 294,258.
Matt Hancock has been forced to deny claims the tactic was adopted so he could hit his target for 100,000 tests a day by the end of May.