‘Mass testing is how we unlock the coronavirus puzzle’
Health Secretary, Matt Hancock, has outlined a five-pillared plan today to tackle coronavirus:
* Accelerate swab testing in scientific labs and NHS hospitals to see who has the virus currently. The Government is committing to reaching 25,000 of these tests per day by the end of April. Hancock stated that ‘every patient who needs a test is going to have one’.
* The creation of a new swab testing capacity through working with commercial partners like Amazon and Boots to build commercial testing sites across the country. This will be used for NHS staff and their family to begin with. Over 5,000 NHS workers have already been tested across such sites.
* The Government is working with nine companies to deliver anti-body tests to allow people to return to work if they are immune to the virus. Tests are now being evaluated before a rollout.
* Deploy an accurate anti-body test to survey what proportion of the population has had the virus. 3,000 such tests are to be delivered each week. This sample information will then be scaled up to inform the Government on nation-wide social distancing measures.
* Working with the pharmaceutical industry to build an at “at-scale” diagnostics industry. The Government has now set a new target of delivering a total of 100,000 of the various tests per day by the end of April.
Coronavirus Press Conference
He also led yesterday’s coronavirus press conference, announcing:
* £13.4bn of NHS debt is being written off to ensure strong foundation for the future.
* The NHS Nightingale has now been constructed, housing 4,000 beds. More temporary hospitals are to come in Manchester, Birmingham and Glasgow.
* Paid tribute to the 750,000 NHS volunteers, stating that “this is Britain at its best”. Also paid tribute to the health staff who have passed away after succumbing to the virus.
* The rate of infection has been doubling every 3-4 days. 12,949 people have been admitted to hospital so far with coronavirus. 2,921 people have died to date.
* Yesterday 45m pieces of PPE were delivered to health staff. PHE have today announced upgraded guidance on the appropriate level of PPE – such standards are amongst the highest in the world. There is a hotline available for health care organisations to get access to PPE.
* Unveiled £300m funding for community pharmacies.
For the full update visit the LACA website: https://laca.co.uk/laca-view/daily-covid-19-update-2042020