Oral Answers to Questions

Damian Hinds Excerpts

Tuesday 17th November 2020 Commons Chamber

[Scott Benton (Blackpool South) (Con)]

What steps his Department is taking to increase covid-19 testing capacity.

[Damian Hinds (East Hampshire) (Con)]

What steps his Department is taking to increase covid-19 testing capacity.

[The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Matt Hancock)]

We are processing coronavirus tests on an unprecedented scale and expanding capacity further, having already met our testing capacity target of 500,000 tests a day by the end of October. We now have five Lighthouse labs operating across the UK, with two more announced yesterday, and significant progress on next-generation testing technologies.

[Matt Hancock]

We have discussed many times in this House the importance of the use of testing because of the terrible dilemma of wanting to keep people safe in care homes, yet also wanting to allow visiting. Testing can help to resolve that. The pilots are ongoing in some parts of the country, and I very much hope that we can get to a position where we can offer testing to enable visiting across the country before Christmas

[Damian Hinds]

I welcome the testing pilots that are happening, including in Southampton. How will the Government be able to support local authorities and public health teams with the logistics of mass testing, particularly in large rural areas such as Hampshire?

[Matt Hancock]

Increasingly, the test itself is only one part of getting a high-quality testing system. The logistics around it are also vital. We are already funding local authorities across the country to support them to roll out mass testing, but we will learn from the pilots, including in Hampshire, to see what extra might be needed.