It follows an increase of almost 4,000 cases yesterday, which was the highest number of cases since early May.
He added: ‘We don’t have enough testing capacity now because, in an ideal world, I would like to test absolutely everybody that wants a test immediately.’
The scene in Sunderland this afternoon where huge queues of traffic have arrived to try and get a coronavirus test He pledged to have reached 500,000 tests a day by the end of October – though Health Secretary Matt Hancock previously said this would happen within a week from now.NHS Test and Trace chief Baroness Harding told MPs ‘it’s clear from today that demand is significantly outstripping the capacity we have’ to conduct coronavirus tests.Committee that the latest capacity for diagnostic tests was 242,817.
Lady Harding said the number of people calling 119 and visiting the website to try to book tests was ‘three to four times the number of tests that we currently have available’ – although she said that would involve some double counting with people using different phone numbers. But she said the number of symptomatic people – the only people who should be eligible for diagnostic tests – was ‘significantly lower’ than the number trying to get a swab.Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at
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