Covid-19 Update Debate

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Department: Cabinet Office

Covid-19 Update

Tony Lloyd Excerpts
Monday 12th October 2020

(4 years ago)

Commons Chamber
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Boris Johnson Portrait The Prime Minister
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Indeed, and I have mentioned the £13.5 billion that we have already given to the self-employed. My right hon. Friend understands the difficulties of the cut-off date, which my right hon. Friend the Chancellor has illustrated. It is to help people across the country that we have increased universal credit, for instance, which will continue for this whole financial year.

Tony Lloyd Portrait Tony Lloyd (Rochdale) (Lab) [V]
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The Prime Minister knows that the control mechanisms introduced in Greater Manchester can work only if we have an efficient test, track and trace system. He told the House earlier that he aims by the end of this month to have half a million tests completed daily. Can he make it clear that track and trace works only if those tests deliver results very quickly? When will we get to the point when those half a million tests will be reported back in a reasonable time and in most cases within a day?

Boris Johnson Portrait The Prime Minister
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We are turning around tests as fast as we possibly can and laying on new labs and new test sites, and I am very confident that we will get up to half a million tests a day by the end of the month. I am not going to make a commitment now about turnaround times, but the hon. Gentleman’s point is well made.