Coronavirus news you may have missed overnight: Tests to be prioritised after widespread shortages
Ministers have been told to mobilise network of UK labs to boost testing
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Your support makes all the difference.Matt Hancock has admitted coronavirus testing will be prioritised for those who need it most after shortages across the country.
Globally, reported coronavirus cases hit 29,576,191 with 935,124 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins University tally.
Here is your daily briefing of coronavirus news you may have missed overnight:
Ministers told to mobilise network of UK laboratories to boost testing
Ministers have been told to call upon university and research laboratories across the UK to tackle the shortage of coronavirus testing.
The laboratories could deliver extra testing alongside the government’s own network.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock admitted coronavirus tests would have to be prioritised for those who need it most.
Covid test shortages set to last for weeks, Matt Hancock admits
Mr Hancock said the testing problems could take weeks to sort out.
Responding to an urgent question from from former health secretary Jeremy Hunt, he said: “I think we will be able to solve this problem in a matter of weeks … we are managing to deliver record capacity, but as he well knows demand is also high."
One in nine pupils absent from school as lack of testing drives fears of ‘lockdown by default’
More than one in nine pupils were absent from school last week as unions warned the testing delays were leading parents to keep their children at home.
Reports also emerged of schools sending pupils home after identifying suspected cases of coronavirus.
One union warned of widespread school closures and “a return to lockdown by default”.
Keir Starmer still waiting for family member’s coronavirus test result
Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner will step in for Keir Starmer at PMQs today while he remains in self-isolation.
Sir Keir has been isolating “in line with NHS guidance” after a family member displayed symptoms of the disease.
Trump says he didn’t downplay coronavirus but ‘up-played’ it despite Woodward tape revelations
Donald Trump insists he did not downplay the risk of coronavirus despite telling veteran journalist Bob Woodward he did not want to spark “panic" by being upfront about the disease.
The US president said he “up-played” the severity of coronavirus even though at the start of the pandemic he compared it to seasonal flu.
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