LONDON (Reuters) – The British government said on Wednesday it would ramp up coronavirus testing amid widespread criticism that it was carrying out far too few, as ministers suggested that shortages of chemicals were partly to blame.
Officials say testing for COVID-19 is key to fighting it, not least to check whether frontline medics could return to work.
But while Germany has been testing about 500,000 people a week, Britain’s current capacity is just 12,750 a day, a figure the government said it was aiming to double by mid-April.
“I hope on testing … you will see significant increases this week. We expect to be at 15,000 tests over the course of this week and then moving further forward in the future,” housing minister Robert Jenrick told broadcaster ITV.
“We do need to go further and we need to do that faster,” he added.
The number of coronavirus deaths in Britain rose to 2,352 people, figures for Tuesday showed, a 31% increase in a day with one of the victims a 13-year-old boy with no apparent underlying health conditions.
So far, tests have been focused on those suspected to have the virus who have been admitted to hospital but the government plans to increase testing of frontline h