Coronavirus news: UK has reached 200,000 daily testing target, government claims after Raab admits he did not know Cummings was self-isolating in Durham when he acted PM
The UK government claimed it had reached its testing capacity target of 200,000-a-day, amid mounting concerns about the effectiveness of the test and trace system ahead of the easing of coronavirus lockdown restrictions.
Foreign secretary Dominic Raab was unable to say how many people have so far been traced under the new scheme, which he claimed could cope with 10,000 new patients a day, after it emerged that PHE had capacity only to trace the contacts of five patients a week when contact-tracing was first abandoned in March.
Mr Raab also admitted he “wasn’t aware” that Dominic Cummings was in Durham while deputising as PM during Boris Johnson’s hospitalisation. Dozens of leading scientists and public health experts have warned Mr Johnson that the scandal has “badly damaged” public trust in the government, which they deemed essential to reduce the risk of a second wave.
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