Procedures drawn up by Public Health England describe the precise chemicals and equipment that must be used to test patients. Only around 8,000 hospital patients and NHS staff are being tested daily – well short of the government’s targets and far below the 70,000 a day achieved in Germany. In an attempt to solve another logistical barrier, NHS England also directed all trusts to lift the 15% cap on staff testing and use all their spare testing capacity to help solve the problem. There is more going on behind the scenes to secure supplies.”Universities have received a flurry of urgent calls from the government to assist in scaling up virus testing. “They won’t be exactly the same items that Public Health England use, but they will work just as well.

Source: The Guardian April 01, 2020 17:11 UTC