Robert Peston Robert Peston

A million coronavirus tests are coming to Britain, but do they work?

I have uncovered another troubling potential roadblock to increasing the volume of tests for Covid-19. It is all quite complicated, so please bear with me. What I have learned is that just under two weeks ago, the Government paid several million pounds to purchase two million ‘rapid lateral flow diagnostic test’ kits from China, with one million coming from a company called Wondfo and one million from AllTest.

Both of these tests have EU approval for use by medical practitioners. They can be deployed and used in hospitals in the UK right now. Of these tests kits, one million – the ones made by Wondfo, which also have Chinese FDA approval – are scheduled to arrive in the UK in the coming week. At another juncture I will explain why the AllTest ones are being held up; it is a slightly sorry saga.

Just to be clear, the Government has handed over millions of pounds in cash for these tests.

Robert Peston
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Robert Peston
Robert Peston is Political Editor of ITV News and host of the weekly political discussion show Peston. His articles originally appeared on his ITV News blog.

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