Coronavirus: Health department admits rate of increase in testing has been too slow

Some countries have adopted mass testing regimes which involve many thousands or tens of thousands of tests a day in an attempt to both isolate those who are carrying the virus and secure accurate data on how and where it is spreading.

The Republic of Ireland adopted that policy, setting up mass testing centres at sites such as Croke Park in Dublin, while the UK testing rate has been much lower than most other countries with significant outbreaks of coronavirus.

There is increasing criticism in London of the slowness of the health system to increase its rate of testing, while the Republic’s Health Service Executive apologised on Wednesday for the delay in processing samples of those tested, and some test centres have now closed.

A fortnight ago the Republic’s health minister said they would soon be testing 15,000 people a day within days, but the latest figures are 1,500 tests a day.

Stormont Health Minister Robin Swann had said that capacity was being increased to 900 tests a day this week, but the actual numbers of tests being done each day this week has been well beneath that figure.

On Sunday there were 742 tests carried out, on Monday there were 513, on Tuesday there were 344, on Wednesday there were 565 and today the figure was down to 449.

When asked about the disparity between what is said to be the capacity and the fact that a far smaller number of tests is being conducted, Mr Swann’s department said that the health service was “working intensively to significantly increase levels of testing”.

It added: “Getting our daily figures to full capacity levels has taken longer than we would have wished but we would assure staff that this is receiving sustained attention.

“We are working with the private sector and other public sector organisations as part of our plans to increase testing numbers. We fully recognise the importance of testing to our staff and that is why they are a key target group when it comes to testing.”

Tests – mostly aimed at high-risk groups such as NHS staff – will soon be in place at MOT centres and other sites such as Belfast’s Odyssey Arena.

Under pressure from Sinn Fein today, Mr Swann told Stormont’s Health Committee he is “pushing on extensively with our testing capabilities”, using laboratories across government, universities and commercial provision being sourced centrally with the UK including Randox.