Coronavirus

Greg Clark Excerpts

Wednesday 11th March 2020 Commons Chamber

[Matt Hancock]

As the hon. Lady knows, guidance is coming out this week. She is right about the importance of protective equipment, and of course, we are taking that into account. The Chancellor set out that more money will be available in social care if it is needed—and I expect that it will be—and announced a total of up to £5 billion for the NHS and social care, while saying that his door is open should more be needed. These are all very important considerations, and the guidance will be out shortly.

[Greg Clark (Tunbridge Wells) (Con)]

I welcome my right hon. Friend’s determination to base his actions on what he calls the “bedrock” of the science. He will be aware that the World Health Organisation-China joint mission report drew particular attention to the importance of the rapid expansion of detection and diagnosis as a way to prevent illness and death. The daily number of tests in this country has been relatively stable over the last few days. In fact, it fell between 7 March and 10 March, while the number of cases increased. Can he assure the House that the right number of people are being tested? When will the expansion of testing that he announced yesterday translate from capacity into the actual number of people being tested?

[Matt Hancock]

That is a very important consideration. As I said, the number of labs doing testing has already gone from one to 12, and we are working with more than two dozen companies on further testing capability. We are rolling out a big expansion of testing. The critical thing is to ensure that it is not just about the testing. Getting the whole pathway right—from somebody feeling sick to calling 111, being tested and then getting the test result back—as the number of tests goes up is the critical thing we have to do.