This unaltered story [1] was originally published on OpenDemocracy.org.
License [2]: Creative Commons 4.0 - Attributions/No Derivities/Int'l.
------------------------

Testing firms ‘lost’ thousands who entered England with COVID

By:   []

Date: 2022-02 

COVID testing firms ‘lost’ nearly 3,000 people who tested positive upon arrival in England in the weeks leading up to the Omicron wave.

Government figures show the businesses, which charged passengers up to £95 per test, were unable to trace 8% (2,852) of all the positive cases they detected (36,509) between 30 September and 15 December.

The government said all firms providing the tests had passed minimum standards requirements.

But Labour’s shadow transport secretary Louise Haigh told openDemocracy this week: “The government has totally failed to get a grip of the ‘Wild West’ testing market despite repeated warnings from regulators.

Get our free Daily Email Get one whole story, direct to your inbox every weekday. Sign up now

“Cripplingly high prices, coupled with failure to meet even the most basic standards, has left passengers and the public exposed. The health secretary has been clear that testing will be a part of our response for some time to come so the government must finally take action to clean up this rotten market and cap prices immediately.”

The UK’s first case of the Omicron variant was first reported on 27 November 2021. COVID cases began to rise sharply a few weeks later, peaking at 246,269 cases reported in 24 hours on 29 December.

In the period covered by the testing statistics, 8,126 people in the UK died after testing positive.
[END]

[1] Url: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/opendemocracyuk/covid-testing-firms-lost-3000-people-entered-england-positive/
[2] url: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/
    
OpenDemocracy via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/opendemocracy/