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LABOUR accused Health Secretary Matt Hancock today of deflecting blame for the shortage of Covid-19 tests after he alleged that too many people were seeking “inappropriate” tests.
Mr Hancock said there had been an increase in the number of people without symptoms seeking tests, and that a quarter of those being tested were not “eligible”
Rejecting accusations that the test system was failing, he said that free tests for asymptomatic people were available in some high-risk circumstances, such as in care homes.
But shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth said that more people were getting tested because the government had advised them to do so.
He said: “It beggars belief that after weeks of encouraging people to have a test if feeling unwell, ministers are seeking to blame people for simply doing what they were advised.
“With children returning to school and thousands returning to the office, it’s obvious extra testing capacity would be needed.”
This week, Mr Hancock pledged that no-one would be instructed to drive more than 75 miles for a test.
During Prime Minister’s Questions, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer detailed the “frankly ridiculous” scenario of a mother in London trying to book a Covid-19 test for her four-year-old daughter.
He said the woman was told the nearest available test was in Telford or Inverness, before being offered Swansea as an option.
Mr Starmer asked PM Boris Johnson who he thought was responsible.
Mr Johnson said he took responsibility, but accused Mr Starmer of launching an “attack” on the outsourced system when he should be heaping “praise and encouragement on it.”
The PM also promised that the government would “do more” on testing by increasing capacity to “500,000 tests a day by the end of October.”
The Department of Health said that more than a million tests were now being carried out each week.
On Tuesday, NHS test and trace director of testing Sarah-Jane Marsh tweeted a “heartfelt apology” to people who could not access tests, saying that processing labs were at a “critical pinch-point.”
Meanwhile, Mr Johnson announced that social gatherings of more than six people — except for weddings, funerals, and organised team sports — will be banned from Monday.
The move comes after the number of daily positive coronavirus tests in the UK exceeded 2,000 this week for the first time since May.
