UK to ration COVID-19 testing amid testing failures

British government plans to ration coronavirus testing, giving priority to health workers and care home staff after widespre reports that people around country were unable to schedule tests.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Wednesday will face questions about his handling of COVID-19 pandemic in House of Commons and before a key committee amid outcry over short of testing.

Justice Secretary Robert Buckland said government is in process of drawing up a new priority list for testing, suggesting that students and ir families could be next in line after National Health Service and social care.

“I think what we need to do is have a cascing system where we kw where our priority should be, and for me priority should be for children in school and ir parents in order to ensure ir lives are safe and also importantly y are t disrupted in way we are seeing,” Buckland told Sky News.

squeeze on tests comes amid a surge in COVID-19 cases across U.K. that has pushed daily new infections to levels t seen since late May and has forced Conservative government to impose limits on public garings.

Widespre testing is seen as crucial to controlling spre of coronavirus because it allows those who are infected to self-isolate while helping health officials to identify hot spots and trace those who are infected.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock told House of Commons on Tuesday that it may take weeks to sort out problems. In meantime, people have been turning up at emergency rooms due to lack of availability of testing.

Association of School and College Leers warned education system could become worse as more cases emerge. Keeping schools open would become “unsustainable” if issues with testing capacity were t fixed, said Geoff Barton, group's general-secretary.

“Teachers need to be counted as key workers in order that you can at least keep that maths teacher in front of 30 young people if ir test is negative,” he told BBC.