Britain has been secretly flying tens of thousands of
Coronavirus tests to America as it struggles to lift the daily testing rate over 100,000 a day in the UK, The Sunday Telegraph can disclose. The Department of Health admitted last night that 50,000 test samples were sent to the US last week as problems were reported in laboratories in the UK. The samples were airlifted across the Atlantic in chartered flights from Stansted airport. The Government insisted that "all results will be returned to patients as quickly as possible". The
UK has failed to hit the hundred thousand a day target for testing for each of the past seven days, and only hit the 100,000 a day target by the end of last month by mailing 40,000 testing kits to people at home. The Government admitted on Thursday that there had been a problem in a lab in Northern
Ireland, but made no reference to shipping tens of thousands of tests to America. Many people are still waiting for their results, throwing their lives into turmoil. Questions will be asked about why the Government has not disclosed the samples airlift to the US before. A Department of Health source said: "We were able to send approximately 50,000 test samples to a US laboratory earlier this week. "Validation of the results will be completed in the UK, and all results will be returned to patients as quickly as possible." The Sunday Telegraph understands that the samples are being processed at a university laboratory in the southern
United States. There have been reports of long delays in getting results back to people who have been tested but it is not known if this is because tests are being sent to the US. The department source added: "Delays in the system this week arose as a result of operational issues in our lab network. "We have worked to resolve these issues and capacity is rapidly being restored. "It is not surprising when a system is brand new that there will be some teething problems in the first weeks of operation. "It is important not to draw too many conclusions from a few days’ worth of data. "Over one million people have now been tested in the UK and the vast majority report no issues with the process."