UK vows to 'massively' increase virus testing amid criticism

Political opponents, scientists and even usually supportive newspapers lambasted British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Thursday over his government’s broken promises on wider testing for COVID-19 virus.

Johnson’s Conservative government vowed weeks ago to rapidly increase number of tests for new coronavirus to 10,000 a day, n 25,000 a day by mid-April. But progress has been slow. government says 10,412 tests were performed Tuesday, first time daily target was met.

Like some or countries, U.K. has limited virus testing to hospitalized patients, leaving people with milder symptoms unsure wher y were infected. Many scientists say wider testing — especially of health care workers — would allow medics who are off work with symptoms to return if ir results are negative, and would give a better picture of how virus spres.

Johnson tested positive for virus a week ago and revealed last Friday that he h mild symptoms of COVID-19 disease. He has continued working while in self-isolation and promised in a video mess that government was “massively increasing testing.”

Testing “is how we will unlock coronavirus puzzle. This is how we will defeat it in end,” Johnson said.

Opinion polls suggest Britons have been largely supportive of government’s efforts to contain new coronavirus. Johnson ordered residents to stay home except for a handful of permitted circumstances and ordered closure of schools, bars, restaurants and n-essential shops.

But as number of virus-related deaths in U.K. accelerated in recent days, unity behind government’s response is shattering. country h more than 29,800 cases and more than 2,350 deaths as of Thursday, according to a Johns Hopkins University tally.

right-leaning Daily Mail newspaper slammed “testing fiasco” on its front p Thursday. “Questions without Answers,” said Conservative-supporting Daily Telegraph, accusing government of being unable to say why Britain lagged behind its European neighbors on testing.

Critics compare Britain's approach to testing unfavorably to one in Germany, which has ability to test 500,000 people a week and has reported fewer deaths among people with virus

government says testing front-line health care workers is a priority, and it set up five drive-through test centers to do it. But y h tested only 2,800 people by Thursday, from a National Health Service workforce of more than 1 million.

Paul Cosford, emeritus medical director of Public Health England, ackwledged that “everybody involved is frustrated that we haven’t got to place where we’ve got to get to.”

Part of problem is Britain’s centralized state-funded health system, which is fairly efficient at organizing hospital treatment but poor at rapidly boosting testing capacity. All coronavirus tests were initially processed at a single Public Health England laboratory, though several or public labs are w also handling tests.

British officials also blame shorts of swabs to take samples and of chemicals kwn as rents, which are needed to perform tests, for delay in ramping up testing.

But private-sector firms and acemic institutes say ir offers of help have so far been igred.

Paul Nurse, chief executive of Francis Crick Institute for biomedical research, said its laboratory h been repurposed so it could carry out 500 tests a day by next week, rising to 2,000 a day in future.

He compared effort required to evacuation of hundreds of thousands of British troops from French port of Dunkirk as it was overrun by German forces in 1940 — a rescue that saw hundreds of small private boats join navy in plucking soldiers from beaches.

"We are a lot of little boats. and little boats can be effective,” Nurse said. " government has put some big boats, destroyers in place. That's a bit more cumbersome to get working and we wish m all luck to do that, but we little boats can contribute as well."