UK has a SHORTAGE of coronavirus test kits, top doctor warns after US flies in a batch of 500,000 swabs from Italy and chief British scientist says current testing is ‘clearly not enough’
- The chair of the Royal College of GPs said there is a shortage of available kits
- He is calling for NHS staff to be tested so they be sure they are healthy or not
- On average the UK has tested 3,746 people per day this week
- The Government’s chief scientific adviser said this is ‘clearly not enough’
- Coronavirus symptoms: what are they and should you see a doctor?
Dr Martin Marshall, the chair of the Royal College of GPs, said there is a ‘shortage of available testing kits’ in the UK
The UK has a shortage of coronavirus tests, one of the country’s most senior doctors has warned.
Dr Martin Marshall, chair of the Royal College of GPs, said there are not enough testing kits to go around in Britain after Prime Minister Boris Johnson promised he would ramp up the number of people who are getting swabbed for the virus.
For the past five days the UK has tested, on average, 3,746 people each day – the Government’s chief scientific adviser has admitted it’s ‘clearly not enough’.
Meanwhile, the US state of Tennessee – which has a population 10 times smaller than the UK, yesterday took delivery of 500,000 kits.
British officials have refused to reveal how many tests are on hand for NHS patients but a supply the size of Tennessee’s would last for five months at the current rate of testing.
NHS staff across the country are crying out to be tested so they can be sure they’re safe to work around patients and an online petition calling for this to happen has been signed by almost a million people.
Speaking to Sky News this morning, Dr Martin Marshall said: ‘At the moment there is a shortage of available testing kits for the conventional test that’s currently being used. Hopefully that will improve over the next few weeks.’
Dr Marshall and the Royal College of GPs (RCGP) are calling for NHS staff to be tested as routine to make sure they don’t have to take time off work unless they’re definitely ill.
Health service staff numbers dropping is a major fear for officials dealing with the epidemic and would make the impact of the coronavirus considerably worse because hospitals would be totally overwhelmed and unable to care for patients.
For this reason schools are being kept open for the children of NHS staff, and recently retired employees are being allowed to return to work.
Dr Marshall added: ‘Routine testing of health professional staff isn’t available…
‘This should be a priority because there are a lot of my colleagues who are at home unable to work or perhaps only able to work on the telephone when they really want to be out there supporting their teams.
‘They’re doing that because they simply don’t know whether they’ve got the virus.’
Dr Marshall and the Royal College of GPs (RCGP) are calling for NHS staff to be tested as routine to make sure they don’t have to take time off work unless they’re definitely ill
The UK’s coronavirus outbreak has spiralled out of control and almost 700 new cases were diagnosed on Wednesday – around 3,746 are being tested each day