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Coronavirus: 50,000 tests sent to the US due to lab 'issues'
It comes as the government was shown to have missed its testing target for the seventh consecutive day.
Around 50,000 coronavirus test samples had to be sent to the US due to "operational issues" in the UK, it has been revealed.
The samples were flown to the US on chartered flights from Stansted airport, according to a report in The Sunday Telegraph.
The Department of Health said such a move was among the "contingencies" to deal with "problems".
A spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Social Care said: "The expansion of the UK's coronavirus testing network has involved setting up an entirely new 'Lighthouse' lab network to process test swabs.
"When problems arise, we have contingencies in place which include creating extra temporary capacity for our labs or sending swabs abroad to partner labs for completion.
"Of course, our partner labs must match our high standards."
The department said work has been done to resolve the issues and it is understood the test results will be validated in the UK before patients are informed of the results "as quickly as possible".
Earlier, it was revealed that 96,878 tests were conducted in the 24 hours to 9am on Saturday - the seventh consecutive day that the number fell below the government's 100,000-a-day target.
But deputy chief medical officer Professor Jonathan Van-Tam blamed "fluctuations", saying: "We are now really at a high plateau, in the region of 100,000 tests per day.
"There is some fluctuation, and quite frankly I expect there to be some fluctuation on a day-to-day basis."
It comes as the government was shown to have missed its testing target for the seventh consecutive day.
Around 50,000 coronavirus test samples had to be sent to the US due to "operational issues" in the UK, it has been revealed.
The samples were flown to the US on chartered flights from Stansted airport, according to a report in The Sunday Telegraph.
The Department of Health said such a move was among the "contingencies" to deal with "problems".
A spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Social Care said: "The expansion of the UK's coronavirus testing network has involved setting up an entirely new 'Lighthouse' lab network to process test swabs.
"When problems arise, we have contingencies in place which include creating extra temporary capacity for our labs or sending swabs abroad to partner labs for completion.
"Of course, our partner labs must match our high standards."
The department said work has been done to resolve the issues and it is understood the test results will be validated in the UK before patients are informed of the results "as quickly as possible".
Earlier, it was revealed that 96,878 tests were conducted in the 24 hours to 9am on Saturday - the seventh consecutive day that the number fell below the government's 100,000-a-day target.
But deputy chief medical officer Professor Jonathan Van-Tam blamed "fluctuations", saying: "We are now really at a high plateau, in the region of 100,000 tests per day.
"There is some fluctuation, and quite frankly I expect there to be some fluctuation on a day-to-day basis."
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Why hasn't Hancock told us of this and isn't Germany closer ?
Very surprised that Trump hasn't been boasting about this.
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