⁍ Britain’s testing system for COVID-19 was creaking on Tuesday as a bottleneck prevented people including medics from getting a test.

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⁍ The government said it may take weeks to resolve the problem.

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⁍ Boris Johnson promised in May to create a ‘world beating’ system to test and trace people exposed to the virus.

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– The UK has seen more than 3,000 cases of coronavirus, the most common cause of respiratory illness in humans, this year—and it’s running out of tests to try to stop the spread. The country’s health minister says demand for tests is so high that it may take weeks to get the system up and running again, Reuters reports. “As we expand capacity further, we are working round the clock to ensure everyone who needs a test can get a test,” he says. Some people with no symptoms have been forced to stay home from work or school to prove they don’t have the virus, which has killed 19 people in the UK. The chief executive of the country’s health providers’ group says hospital bosses are working in the dark about why there’s such a shortage and how long it will last. “It is frustrating that I can’t work, I have no symptoms, there is nothing with me, but following the guidelines I have to stay home until I can prove that I don’t have COVID-19 or the (quarantine) time has passed,” a medical engineer who tried more than 50 times to book a test tells Reuters.