Government ‘behind the curve’ on testing, Keir Starmer tells Parliament
New Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said the Government is not making full use of its testing capacity to see if people have Covid-19.
In his first appearance during PMQs as Leader of the Opposition, he said the UK has been “very slow” on testing.
He added: “The Health Secretary made a very important commitment to 100,000 tests a day by the end of April, but yesterday the figure for actual tests was 18,000 a day and that was down from Monday, which was 19,000 tests a day.
“We’re way behind the curve and the end of the month is a week tomorrow. So, what does the First Secretary expect to happen in the next eight days to get us from 18,000 tests a day to 100,000 tests a day?”
Responding, Mr Raab said testing capacity was up to 40,000 a day and will increase “exponentially” by the end of the month.
He added: “I do have to just correct him. Our capacity for tests is now at 40,000 per day, so I think that is an incredibly important milestone.
“Of course, he is right to say that in the final week that will require a big increase. “But, of course, with a project like this, it does require an exponential increase in the final days and the final week of the programme.”