Covid-19: Strategy Debate

Full Debate: Read Full Debate
Department: Cabinet Office

Covid-19: Strategy

Kevin Hollinrake Excerpts
Monday 11th May 2020

(4 years, 7 months ago)

Commons Chamber
Read Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Lindsay Hoyle Portrait Mr Speaker
- Hansard - - - Excerpts

Can I urge Members to speed up their questions, and certainly the Prime Minister to speed up the replies?

Kevin Hollinrake Portrait Kevin Hollinrake (Thirsk and Malton) (Con) [V]
- Hansard - -

I welcome the Prime Minister’s statement and his approach to starting to reopen the economy while keeping the virus under control. Testing and tracing is key to the way forward. Does my right hon. Friend agree that if we could reduce the time taken to get test results back from the current five days to as little as 24 hours, it would make that approach even more effective?

Boris Johnson Portrait The Prime Minister
- Hansard - - - Excerpts

Absolutely. My hon. Friend is completely right: speed of turnaround is crucial in improving our testing. We have done 100,000 tests again yesterday, I am pleased to say, but clearly pace of turnaround is absolutely critical for getting up to where we need to be—200,000, as he knows, by the end of the month, and then a much more ambitious programme thereafter.