Covid-19 testing in the UK

After meeting the initial goal of 100 thousand tests per day (by including 40,000 tests which were sent via post and may not have been used at the time of reporting), testing in the UK fell below that mark for eight consecutive days before the latest figure announced on 11 May crept over the line with 100,490.

As reported by HuffPost UK last week, Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis commented on the issue saying: "there has been a bit of an issue at the labs, there’s been a technical issue. That’s not surprising with a completely new test and a new diagnostics system we’ve put in place. But that technical issue is now dealt with so we’ll see that capacity and demand levels coming up."

Despite having once again surpassed 100 thousand tests, capacity will still have to come up an awful lot if the UK is to reach its next lofty target - 200 thousand tests per day by the end of May.