The UK government’s promise to reach 100,000 coronavirus tests per day by Thursday is “quite a challenge,” said Michael Malim, the head of immunology and microbial sciences at King’s College London.
The Department of Health and Social Care said 29,058 tests were carried out on Saturday, although the government says the capacity is much higher.
“I think 100,000 by Thursday would be quite a challenge,” Malim told Sky News.
“But it’s definitely ramping up in this country and even if we don’t meet 100,000, if we get up closer to that, that would be a major advance.”
Malim added that a more reasonable time frame for the UK to be able to test 100,000 a day would be “within two or three weeks.”
The UK government has faced criticism for low levels of testing, although Health Secretary Matt Hancock remains confident the 100,000 target will be reached by the end of April.
