Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Bill Esterson and David Duguid

Tuesday 18th January 2022 Commons Chamber

[Bill Esterson (Sefton Central) (Lab)]

5. What plans his Department has to ensure that there is an adequate supply of covid-19 tests during the covid-19 outbreak.

[David Duguid (Banff and Buchan) (Con)]

19. What steps his Department is taking to increase the supply of lateral flow and PCR covid-19 tests.

[The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Sajid Javid)]

We have significantly increased our testing and supply capacity since December, procuring over 700 million more lateral flow tests, ramping up our delivery capacity and expanding the UK’s daily PCR capacity. Around 1.7 billion lateral flow tests have been distributed across the UK since the start of the pandemic. Home delivery capacity is now at over 7 million lateral flow tests every day, and we have also recently increased capacity for PCR testing by more than 200,000 tests per day.