Coronavirus: Nearly half of home test kits not sent back or returned void, government admits

Nearly half of the home coronavirus tests sent out by the government are not being sent back or are being returned void, the government has admitted.

The revelation casts further doubt on ministers’ claims about how many people they are testing for Covid-19, with home tests making up a substantial chunk of the total.

The Government’s testing figures count a test as soon as it is sent out rather than when results are obtained, with the effect of inflating the numbers in time to meet deadlines.

But new statistics released by the Department of Health and Social Care show that 39 per cent of kits are not being sent back, with a further 4.8 per cent of those – 9,761 – returned void.

It means that over 4 in 10 of the home testing kits are not actually providing results, a total of around 42 per cent.

The statistics were released by the government in response to a written parliamentary question on Tuesday. Ministers have previously been coy about releasing the exact figures, but Public Health England told a parliamentary committee last month that “certainly more than half” were being returned.

Officials say tests may be returned void because they either have not been used, sent back without a barcode label, or with the sample container’s lid not screwed on properly. They say there have also been occasions in which the sample provided cannot be processed.

The figures, the latest of which related to 25 May 2020, show that 3.6 per cent of home test kits received a positive result and 91.6 per cent received a negative result, with 4.8 per cent void.

It is difficult to estimate the exact impact of the low return rate on the overall figures using publicly available data. On the day of the government’s deadline to test 100,000 people alone, 40,000 tests were recorded as either mailed out to homes or “satellite centres”. The satellite tests are not thought to face the same problems home tests have, but the government does not distinguish between the two methods in the figures it makes public.

Labour’s shadow health minister Justin Madders said: “For just under half of these tests not to be returned or to have been voided shows that the Government have got little control over the testing system.

“They have boasted of over 8 million tests being provided but it is clear now that the true figure is likely to be much lower than that and we still do not know how many people have actually been tested. As we move out of lockdown it is vital that Ministers demonstrate they have a proper plan to get a grip of the all too apparent holes in the current testing system.”

Earlier this month the UK’s top statistician branded the government’s testing statistics “misleading”. UK Statistics Authority chair Sir David Norgrove said in a scathing letter to the Health Secretary that the government’s presentation of testing figures “falls well short” of normal standards.

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “We have stood up a new testing programme at pace with capacity for over 280,000 tests a day to make sure anyone in England of any age can get a test, either at home or by visiting one of our regional centres.

“We were clear from the outset about how we counted our tests, and we continue to work hard to continually improve the data we publish.

“It is essential for everyone who orders a test to use it and return it to the lab in a timely manner to help control the virus and save lives.”

Source: UK Politics - www.independent.co.uk