FlyTheNest

A cabinet minister has acknowledged that the government may not meet its target of 100,000 daily coronavirus tests by the end of the month.

After intense criticism, the health secretary, Matt Hancock, pledged the country would be conducting the tests by the end of April but, with only 52,429 carried out in the 24 hours to yesterday, the justice secretary, Robert Buckland, has now conceded it might not happen. He told BBC Breakfast:

Even if it [the target] isn’t met, we’re well on our way to ramping this up and 100,000 is an important milestone, but frankly we need more.

He added: “Yes, 52,000 isn’t 100,000, I know that ... but we are straining every sinew to get there... If he [Hancock] hadn’t set a target he would have been criticised for being unambitious. I think now is the time in respect of this to be bold ... being brave, I think, is something we should acknowledge even if the target isn’t met today.”

RogerOThornhill wrote:Morning all.
From AS.

A cabinet minister has acknowledged that the government may not meet its target of 100,000 daily coronavirus tests by the end of the month.

snip

Yes, but the issue is that a week or so ago we were being told that the target was around capacity not actual tests.

Just 52,429 tests were carried out in the UK in the 24 hours to yesterday, on 33,455 people.

adam wrote:

RogerOThornhill wrote:Morning all.
From AS.

A cabinet minister has acknowledged that the government may not meet its target of 100,000 daily coronavirus tests by the end of the month.

snip

Yes, but the issue is that a week or so ago we were being told that the target was around capacity not actual tests.

I thought the last line of that piece needed some more explanation as well...

Just 52,429 tests were carried out in the UK in the 24 hours to yesterday, on 33,455 people.

PorFavor wrote:Doesn't the number of tests include all the re-tests that had to be done (not that they were at any pains to make that clear)?

gilsey wrote:I just found out yesterday that the Bank Holiday next week is Friday not Monday, for VE day, must have been asleep when they announced it.

Not that it makes much difference in current circumstances.

Lost Soul wrote:Thanks all. She's four foot ten.. a bit over 6 stone and a fierce spirit.

did I mention Scottish...

Johnson's elements of medical speech today
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/prim ... april-2020" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

"We have come through the peak
Or rather we’ve come under what could have been a vast peak
as though we’ve been going through some huge alpine tunnel
And we can now see the sunlight and pasture ahead of us
And so it is vital that we do not now lose control and run slap into a second and even bigger mountain"
- Johnson

citizenJA wrote:Yes. Johnson really did say that.

Lost Soul wrote:Thanks all. She's four foot ten.. a bit over 6 stone and a fierce spirit.

did I mention Scottish...

The mounting criticism has been accompanied by an old quote from Mr Johnson from 2006, in which he said that the fictional Mayor Vaughn from the Stephen Spielberg movie Jaws was a 'hero'.

An MP at the time, Mr Johnson told an audience at Lloyd's in London that "The real hero of Jaws is the mayor".

"A gigantic fish is eating all your constituents and he decides to keep the beaches open.

"OK, in that instance he was actually wrong. But in principle, we need more politicians like the mayor-- we are often the only obstacle against all the nonsense which is really a massive conspiracy against the taxpayer".

adam wrote:[youtube]NL_oqlh-5jo[/youtube]