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UK coronavirus live: up to four times as many people may be wanting Covid tests as can get them, MPs told UK coronavirus live: demand for Covid tests outstripping capacity, MPs told
(32 minutes later)
Dido Harding gives evidence to Commons science committee; new restrictions placed on nearly 2 million people in north-east EnglandDido Harding gives evidence to Commons science committee; new restrictions placed on nearly 2 million people in north-east England
Back in the science committee Greg Clark, the chair, asks if NHS Test and Trace will do its own modelling for what demand for tests might be.
Dido Harding, the head of NHS Test and Trace, says they will continue to work with groups that provide modelling.
Pedestrians will be given priority over cars at dozens of crossings in London after successful trials of a radical plan to keep the “green man” signal – and a red light for traffic - displayed as a default.
Transport for London said the move, a first for the UK, would help encourage more journeys by foot as travel grows after the pandemic, while improving safety.
The red man signal at pedestrian crossings will only be shown if vehicles are in the vicinity, using technology which has been trialled in eight-month long tests at locations near the Millennium Bridge and the Shard. Another 20 crossings around London boroughs will be re-programmed this month.
The trials showed that it would minimise waiting time for pedestrians and did not significantly affect road traffic flow. TfL said research showed that at normal pedestrian crossings more than 50% of people attempt to cross within five seconds, irrespective of the signal, risking accidents.
As part of broader moves to encourage more walking journeys on everyday trips, TfL and London Living Streets have also launched a new Footways map highlighting “safe and attractive” routes between stations and key locations around the capital.
Greg Clark, the committee chair, says the WHO advice is that the distance metric should be within 1 metre for 15 minutes, not within 2 metres.
Lord Bethell, the health minister, says it was felt that a 1 metre metric would throw up too many false results.
Q: Can you write to the committee to explain your reasoning for this?
Yes, says Bethell. And he says this can be “tweaked” in the future.
Back in the Commons science committee, Dido Harding says the app being launched in England uses the same contact-tracing technology as the Scottish app. But it also uses QR codes, she says. And she says although the app has not yet been formally launched, it is being piloted, and 15,000 businesses have downloaded the QR code.
The Scottish secretary, Alister Jack, has accused Nicola Sturgeon on introducing different coronavirus guidance “for the sake of it”, as well as suggesting that Jeane Freeman, the Scottish government’s health secretary, misled a Commons committee by allegedly claiming in June that she could not recall any communication with him.
After reports of Jack’s accusations at the Scottish affairs committee emerged, Freeman retweeted a transcript of her own evidence to the same committee, in which she clearly states that both were present at a meeting with her UK counterpart, Matt Hancock.
Earlier today, Jack told MPs:
The UK has recorded 21 more coronavirus deaths and 3,395 more coronavirus cases, according to the latest updates on the government’s coronavirus dashboard.
Here is the latest graph for case numbers.
Lord Bethell, the health minister in charge of test and trace, is joining the hearing now.
Clark asks him about the app. Bethell says he has the app on his phone, and it is very impressive. He has been using it, he says.
He says businesses have been trialling it.
Q: What are the main features of the app?
Simon Thompson, managing director of the NHS Covid-19 app, is answering.
He says it has a capability called alert. It will tell people what is happening in their area.
And there is a capability called check in. Using QR codes, the app can get in touch with people who have been to particular places.
There is a symptom checker, which tells people if they need to get a test.
And there is a companion feature, that tells people how long they need to isolate for.
The app is also a contact-tracing app. It will monitor how close you are to people. If someone you have been close to tests positive, you will get an alert.
Q: If you are told to self-isolate, is it compulsory to follow the advice?
Bethell says this has not been mandated by law.
Q: What is the proximity threshold - within 2 metres of someone for at least 15 minutes?
That’s right, says Thompson.
Q: And does it know if there has been a perspex screen between you and the other person?
Thompson says people are advised to switch off contact tracing in three circumstances: you might be wearing PPE, you might be protected by a screen, or you might have left your phone in a locker.
Q: What proportion of people asked to self-isolate develop Covid?Q: What proportion of people asked to self-isolate develop Covid?
Harding says she does not know.Harding says she does not know.
They do not test people asked to self-isolate.They do not test people asked to self-isolate.
If people tested negative, then they might go back to work when it was not safe to do so, she says.If people tested negative, then they might go back to work when it was not safe to do so, she says.
Harding also said turnaround times have got longer because the service is processing more tests. That was deliberate, she said.Harding also said turnaround times have got longer because the service is processing more tests. That was deliberate, she said.
Clark says if two-thirds of people are not getting their test results within 24 hours, that is a failure.
Should NHS test and trace be measuring time taken from a person getting a test to contacts being asked to self-isolate?
Harding says NHS test and trace is judged by many metrics.
One target is for 80% of people testing positive to be reached so they can be asked about their contacts. She says the service is reaching 83.3%.
And it is meant to reach 80% of close contacts. And it is reaching 86.6% of close contacts where contact details have been provided, she says.
But she accepts that reducing the end-to-end time taken is important.
Clark says the PM’s target was for 24-hour turnaround. Yet Harding is quoting next day turnaround. What are the figures for 24-hour turnaround?
Harding says they focus on next day turnaround.
Clark quotes the 24-hour figure - 33.3%. (See 11.49am.) He says 24-hour turnaround is important. The government’s Scientific Advisory Committee for Emergencies said test results had to be delivered quickly. The sooner they are delivered, the sooner those being tested, and their contacts, can be asked to self-isolate.
Labour’s Graham Stringer goes next.
Q: How did you become interim executive chair of the National Institute for Health Protection? (This is the body replacing Public Health England - Harding holds this post alongside being head of NHS Test and Trace.)
Harding says she did not apply. She was asked to do this job. And she accepted because she wanted to serve her country. She is working unpaid, she says. And she says a permanent chair will be appointed.
Clark says the PM promised in June that there would be 100% turnaround within 24 hours.
Harding says they have mostly delivered 90% next day turnaround.
Q: The figure for home test kits is 9%.
Harding says she is quoting figures for in-person tests. Home tests have always taken longer, because kits go into the post.
She says they have been prioritising in-person tests because they can be processed more quickly.
Q: At one point ministers suggested home tests were the solution?
Harding says that made sense at the time, but in-person testing is faster.
Harding says test results are taking “slightly longer than usual”, as today’s figures showed. (See 11.49am.)
Harding says there will be substantial increases in lab capacity every week between now and the end of October.
She says robotic processing capacities are being introduced.
Additional laboratories are being created, including one in Newport.
A number of different initiatives will take capacity to 500,000 tests per day by the end of October, she says.
She is “very confident” this will be met, she says.
Harding says the number of tests being processed abroad is in the low tens of thousands.
The Labour MP Dawn Butler asked about reports that Randox, one of the private firms processing tests, was unable to process thousands of tests. Was it paid for these?
Harding says she cannot comment, because this episode is still being investigated, she says.
Harding says for a couple of days last week laboratories were running at over 100% of capacity. She says they were worried about that - implying there were concerns about whether processes could be properly followed like that.
Harding says there are two to three times as many people being tested in high prevalence areas.