UK’s testing farce: Drive-thru centres are only swabbing ‘four people a day’

Britain’s coronavirus testing farce was laid bare again today with claims that drive-through centres are only swabbing a handful of people every day – with a week to go to meet the Government’s pledge of swabbing 100,000 people a day. 

The Army and Amazon have both been drafted in to help Number 10 scale up its testing response, with soldiers helping to ferry mobile testing units across the UK and the retail giant is delivering swabs to people’s homes.

Damning official figures show Britain is still miles away from reaching its pledge of carrying out 100,000 swabs each day, with Department of Health statistics showing only 22,000 were conducted yesterday.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock’s target was yesterday savaged by MPs as ‘arbitrary’ and ‘stupid’, after pictures of near-empty testing centres in London, Coventry and Brighton laid bare the true scale of the UK’s swabbing shambles. 

Concerns were today raised about one of the Government’s 27 coronavirus drive-thru testing centres, with neighbours surrounding one in Scotland claiming ‘around four people a day’ have been swabbed.

The facility, in the car park of Port Glasgow Health Centre, in Port Glasgow, Inverclyde, was set up on April 9 with ambitions of testing 100 people a week – who are either NHS workers or family members of medics. 

A resident, speaking on condition of anonymity, said: ‘It has been very quiet so far. It looks like they are testing about four people a day.

‘We overlook it and have barely noticed anyone using the centre. It is empty most of the time. Surely there should be more people getting tested?’

A spokesman NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde said: ‘At present the centre is seeing more patients on a daily basis and has the capacity to meet demand.

‘The Port Glasgow drive-through testing centre opened on Thursday April 9 and tests both symptomatic household members and symptomatic staff as per the current NHS GGC policy.

‘Across NHS GGC we are able to test health and social care staff who are self-isolating as they are symptomatic, or, those with a symptomatic household contact.’

The drive-through test centre runs on an appointment-only basis and it operates Monday to Friday from 9am to 4pm.

During testing the person remains in the car and provides a swab.

All staff at the centre wear PPE and a pathway has been put in place to control the flow of traffic and ensure the safety of the public and staff.