The Government is desperate to hit its target of 100,000 tests a day by the end of next week, and today launched a new direct booking system for key workers on the gov.uk website (Picture: Getty/ITV)

The Health Secretary has said that the ‘infrastructure’ for testing the UK’s frontline workers has always been ‘fine’ but that people just haven’t turned up to test sites.

Launching the Government’s new online system to register for a coronavirus test, Matt Hancock claimed fewer people had come to the Covid-19 drive-through centres than expected as he was challenged on the low number of tests being conducted.

The Government is desperate to hit its target of 100,000 tests a day by the end of next week, and today launched a new direct booking system for key workers on the gov.uk website.



Announcing the reasons for the online system, Mr Hancock said: ‘The capacity to test is above target, 51,000 capacity and has been going up 10,000 a day. The plan was always to build the capacity and then ramp up. The issue is how people can get access to that capacity.’ He added: ‘The infrastructure has coped absolutely fine, but the people haven’t been coming to the sites. This is why we’ve put in the new system so that people can directly book as opposed to going through their employers.’


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First in line for the tests, which will be conducted at drive-through sites or via a limited number of at-home tests, will be residents at care homes, then key workers including NHS staff, transport and delivery staff and care workers.

‘If you are an essential worker, then you can go if you’ve got symptoms, or if a member of your household has symptoms, you can go on,’ Mr Hancock told Good Morning Britain.

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‘The switch on has gone live this morning, if you are watching this morning, you have symptoms or someone in your house has symptoms, then you can go and book yourself a test.

‘We are expanding the number of test centres but we’re also introducing home tests and we’ll ramp that up so you can get a test posted to your home, a courier then picks up your test, takes it to our labs and send you the result.’

On the issue of PPE shortages across UK hospitals and in care homes, Mr Hancock admitted the current system ‘is imperfect and we’re constantly trying to improve it’.

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He denied those living and working in care homes had been ‘failed’ after it emerged almost half of all coronavirus deaths across Europe had been elderly and vulnerable people in care facilities.

The health secretary said: ‘We’ve been concentrating on the impact of this virus on care homes right from the start. We are able to expand the testing to those in care homes today.



‘They are at the front of the queue. We now have mobile testing units that can drive to the care homes so people can get tested.’

He added: ‘We have not failed them, because care home residents have always been tested throughout this.’

Key workers and their households can apply for a Covid-19 test online (Picture: Getty)

Mr Hancock said social distancing rules will not be lifted at this time as it is ‘too soon’ despite announcing earlier this week that he believed the UK was at the ‘peak’ of the crisis.

‘We’ve set out the five tests that we need to meet before we safely make any changes to social distancing rules,’ the health secretary said.

‘The truth it is too soon to make changes to the social distancing rules as things stand.

‘It looks like we are at the peak and the curve has flattened – but it doesn’t take much to lose that.’

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