02 April 2020 – Increased testing to 100,000 per day

Type of Intervention: New Tool / Service / Body
Sectors Involved: Health, Social Services
Intervention Categories: Surveillance and response measures; Detecting and isolating cases
Level of Jurisdiction: National
Lead People/Agency: Department of Health and Social Care
Health Secretary Matt Hancock

Overview: The UK will carry out 100,000 tests for coronavirus every day by the end of this month, Health Secretary Matt Hancock pledged today. Increased testing for the NHS will form part of a new 5-pillar plan, bringing together government, industry, academia, the NHS and many others, to dramatically increase the number of tests being carried out each day.
Full details here: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/health-secretary-sets-out-plan-to-carry-out-100000-coronavirus-tests-a-day

Other links: 1 2
Type of Justification: Learning from other jurisdictions
Source of Evidence or Justification: World Health Organisation
Evidence/Justification: Ongoing advice from WHO to increase testing, combined with domestic public, media and medical profession pressures to do so. 100,000 target rather arbitrary but intended to signal scale of govt commitment and ambition.