UK's 500,000 daily COVID-19 test target will have to grow after Oct - official

Britain will need more than the current target of 500,000 daily COVID-19 tests after October, the head of the test and trace system in England said on Thursday.

Britain will need more than the current target of 500,000 daily COVID-19 tests after October, the head of the test and trace system in England said on Thursday. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Wednesday said 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.

"I am certain that we will need more as we go beyond the end of October," Dido Harding, interim chair of the new National Institute for Health Protection, told lawmakers. "We have plans to go beyond the 500,000 a day (target)."