New Lighthouse labs, created by the government to boost the nation’s Covid testing capacity, are to be dramatically scaled back before they open. It is understood that new multi-million pound labs in Gateshead and Plymouth, announced last year but yet to open, are among those to see a big cut in daily testing by as much as 50% compared with original plans.
Some smaller labs will be decommissioned and others will not have their contracts renewed this spring as part of the overhaul, with officials citing new technology and the changing pressures of the pandemic as factors behind a rethink. The changes are likely to reignite the debate over the use of public money by the £22bn NHS test and trace programme.
Officials insisted there would be no overall reduction in the existing capacity of more than 750,000 tests a day, and the changes would ensure better value for money. However, the move suggests capacity will not be expanded in the way originally planned. There are also there are concerns about overhauling testing capacity weeks ahead
of school reopening. Dido Harding, the head of NHS Test and Trace, admitted the service had failed to predict demand when schools and universities returned last autumn."
https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...e-even-opening
Relax guy, you need a rest - it's not like a deadly pandemic going on, get ready to go out to spread out.
