Millions of coronavirus test kits made in Britain are being sold overseas as uk labs ‘can’t cope’ – the sun, thesun.co.uk

(Credit: Reuters

Only £ 1million worth of test have reportedly been sold to the UK, with the group marketing manager Achilleas Neophytou telling the Daily Mail lab capacity was a ” limiting factor “.

The government has come under criticism for not ramping up the number of people tested quickly enough.

NHS staff have reportedly struggled to get tested and therefore back to work on the frontline battling the killer virus.

)

But Mr Neophytou said: “One of the constraints on our capacity to increase testing overall is the supply of the specific reagents, the specific chemicals that are needed in order to make sure that The tests are reliable.

“Even if we delivered ten times the number of kits to the Government, the limiting factor is still capacity of testing and that comes more and more under strain if laboratory staff go into self-isolation.

“A huge lab could also be brought below capacity if you do not have the consumables and instruments you need to run the tests.

“We are supplying 40 hospitals in the UK. Some of those serve other hospitals across the country. Some do not have the internal capacity to do these tests. ”

Cabinet minister Michael Gove has admitted the UK was not testing the high numbers that are wanted currently.

Germany is tested around 150, people a day, with the UK hovering around , per day.

The government wants to increase numbers to about 70, (people being tested for COVID-) each day.

A Public Health England spokesman said Novacyt was “able to offer the guaranteed continuity of supply we were looking for”.

Countries in the Middle East have bought £ 1.6million worth of testing kits, while India has purchased £ 1.4million worth of tests.

It comes as (people including a teen with no underlying health conditions died in hours.

RISING CASES

Britain’s grim death toll now stands at 1, 861 with , 680 positive Covid – (cases – up 2, from yesterday.

Today we told how coronavirus testing in the UK has been delayed after kits were found to be contaminated with Covid – 64

Key components ordered from overseas for the tests were found to contain traces of the virus earlier this week.

It comes as Britain attempts to ramp up mass testing after capacity appeared to lag behind other major nations, including the US and Germany.

To meet demand and boost production, the government has enlisted private companies to help – with plans for thousands of kits to be made available within the coming weeks.