So nothing about the tests then?
Seems to me a lot of folks need to take their red specs off.
Just to clarify that point.
On Tuesday the 24th of Match, the Health Secretary Matt Hancock was asked a question by Heather Stewart of the Guardian regarding a statement The Prime Minister had made in The House of Commons, where he recieves Parliamentary Privelidge, where he said that the Nation had ordered 3.5 million test kits to discover who had ever had the virus, asking when we could expect when they would arrive and what they would test for.
Mr Hancock stated we had now bought 3.5 million anti body tests that would allow people to see if they had had the virus and that a new testing facility in milton Keynes would soon be coming online that would help ramp up the effort.
On Friday the 27th, Michael Gove and Dr Jennie Harrie were asked a multi part question on Friday night which consisted of
Were the Cabinet now being tested in light of the days announcements regarding the Prime Minister and The Health Secretary testing positive, aimed at Mr Gove, and towards Dr Harries, could she confirm that the 3.5 million tests had actually been ordered and manufactured and if so from from who?
That was probably driven out of concern regarding a statement apparently from Fernando Simón, the director of Spain's health-emergencies coordination center, that said that Spain checked 9,000 tests purchased from the Chinese company Bioeasy and found that their results were not consistent enough ( being as low as 30% sesnitive instead of 80%) and decided to return them. The Chinese Governemnt subsequently responded that the tests had been purchased from a company without licence and had not been on a government sanctioned list of approved suppliers.
Mr Gove answered the first question quite deftly and once again re-itterated the Governments testing policy, outlining the who/when/why quite succinctly, stayed on message and passed the baton to Dr Harries to answer the second part regarding the previously promised 3.5 million test kits.
Dr Harries again re-itterated the Governments policy on testing, re stated the appropriate measures to take if you thought you were infected and the importance of doing so. She then addressed the question regarding the 3.5 million 'have you had it?' test kits.
She responded by saying these were coming from a variety of different manufacturers, and referenced Prof Chris Witty who had earlier in the week said it was critical that these tests had the right level of sensitivity and specificity (how often they pick it up and how often they are accurate) and that each of the diferent types of tests would be evaluated. Simon Stevens then finished by reminding the public of the current strain on the NHS and hammering home the importance of all of us following government guidelines to the best of our ability.
I and most other people realise there is a battle against time that is currently bein waged and the importance of making wise, informed decisions that are in the nations best interest to ensure as many people as possible survive.
But there is a world of difference between saying 'We have begun a product assesment process whereby we are working with multiple UK test kit manufacturers to establish the sensitivity and specificity of their equipment, and once we are sure that those are within acceptable parameters we will be placing an order and purchasing for 3.5 million kits' and ' we have ordered and bought 3.5million test kits' and not just semantically.
THe first infers that the kits have been ordered and paid for and we are in a full sales cycle the second that we are have not left the product testing phase and once that has been completed, we will enter the sales cycle.
Hope this helps.
