Britain will boost coronavirus testing to 500,000 a day by end of October: PM Johnson

LONDON- British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Wednesday his government was working hard to increase testing capacity to tackle the coronavirus pandemic, saying he aimed to be able to do 500,000 tests a day by the end of October. “We will be up at 500,000 per day by the end of October,” Johnson told a parliamentary committee, adding that he hoped that would be…

LONDON (Reuters) – British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Wednesday his government was working hard to increase testing capacity to tackle the coronavirus pandemic, saying he aimed to be able to do 500,000 tests a day by the end of October.

“We will be up at 500,000 per day by the end of October,” Johnson told a parliamentary committee, adding that he hoped that would be enough to meet increasing demand. He repeated that the government would hold an inquiry into its handling of the coronavirus crisis, but did not give a time for it.

(Reporting by William James, writing by Elizabeth Piper, editing by Alistair Smout)