More coronavirus testing ‘vital’, says Lincolnshire’s public health chief

Professor Derek Ward said an increase in testing will help health officials to know how to deal with the virus better.

It comes as the government admitted that tests were being delivered to hospitals too slowly.

Professor Ward reiterated the importance of testing, in particular on frontline staff.

“It’s absolutely vital,” he said. “My team deal with this issue day in, day out with such things as hepatitis and TB.

“Having a test to confirm it is fundamental. It’s equally as important to test those people who have had it and cleared it.”

Cabinet minister, Michael Gove, said yesterday that the government needed to “go further, faster” as it looks to meet a testing target of 25,000 per day.

Mr Gove said the delay in testing was down to the availability of chemicals needed to test patients.

The government has come under fire recently as frontline NHS staff have been unable to get tests.

It comes as Lincolnshire saw its biggest daily increase in the number of positive COVID-19 cases.

The number of cases increased by 26 to 104 as of yesterday (March 31).

So far, six patients who were tested positive with coronavirus have died in the county. However, Professor Ward said he expects that number to increase.

Yesterday, it was confirmed that 25,510 cases across the UK have been tested positive with a death toll of 1,789.

The Department of Health and Social Care said a total of 143,186 people have been tested for the virus.

A 13-year-old boy from south London was confirmed as the youngest coronavirus fatality in the UK.

Among the figures released included two further deaths in northern Lincolnshire, taking the death toll up to five in the region.