⁍ A sharp deterioration in turnaround times and availability of COVID-19 tests in Britain saw the government admit there were challenges.

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⁍ Only 14% of coronavirus test results in England came back within 24 hours last week, a sharp fall from the week before.

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⁍ The British government has been under intense pressure over the buckling of its promised ‘world-beating’ system.

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– The British government promised a “world-beating” system to test for coronavirus, but new data reveals that the promised “world-beating” has not quite lived up to its name, Reuters reports. Just 14% of test results in England came back within 24 hours last week, compared to 32% the previous week. For tests taken in person, rather than via samples collected off-site, only a third were returned within 24 hours. “It is incredibly important that those with symptoms come forward, and that those without symptoms do not,’ UK health minister Matt Hancock said. “It’s that huge spike in demand that is the challenge.” The new data also shows that the number of new cases of coronavirus in Britain has doubled since July. There have been 378,219 cases reported in Britain since May. There have been 41,684 deaths within 28 days of a positive test. “It has become not so much Test and Trace, more like trace a test,” a health spokesman said in parliament. “Rather than fixing testing, (Hancock) is restricting testing.”