From the live wales Croonavirus update
13:28
No new testing target will be set
The Welsh Government will not set a new target for how many people it aims to test for coronavirus in day, the first minister has said.
The administration hoped to get up to 5,000 tests a day by mid-April, but has abandoned the target after falling well short, with the current capacity being about 1,300 a day.
Mark Drakeford said he hoped to see the impact of the government's rapid review of testing application procedures "during this week".
Mr Drakeford held a meeting on Monday morning involving the military, Care Forum Wales and others aimed at turning recommendations of the review into “actions on the ground”.
“At the end of last week… we had tests available that weren't being taken up but that was partly because of the complexity of the system," he said.
“We’re using military planners to help us to streamline that system as best we can. You still have to have safeguards in the system, you've still got to make sure that people turn up at the right place at the right time, have the right to test for the right person.
"And that does take a bit of organising, but we are confident we can do it in a more streamlined way and that will mean more of tests are being taken up.
"What we've said in the rapid review is we will report every week on the number of tests available in the NHS in Wales on a daily basis, the number that are being taken up and the plans we have to increase that number over the week ahead.”
But he said he would not set a new target, citing one expert who believed the number became a distraction.
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Posted at 13:2013:20
5,000 tests a day 'not achievable in practice'
A target to test 5,000 people a day for coronavirus in Wales was not achievable partly due to equipment not arriving on time, the first minister has said.
The Welsh Government had hoped to hit the target by mid April, but has fallen well short, with the capacity currently being about 1,300 a day.
Mark Drakeford said the targets, which have now been abandoned, had been given in "good faith", and he would not give a new target for how many tests he hoped they could achieve.
"The advice we had from people who help us develop testing is that we had confidence at that point we could get to 5,000 tests," he said.
“Because there was confidence in the number I thought it was right to share that number.
“As it has happened some of the things we were relying upon to allow us to get to the 5,000 number a day haven’t turned out to be achievable in practice, partly because some of those things are outside our own control.“
"We were relying on equipment coming to Wales from overseas. We were relying on some reagent chemicals coming to Wales from overseas. Those deliveries haven’t arrived to the timescale we had hoped.
Seems like a cunning plan. 'If we don't tell you what we're doing about it you can't blame us when we fail to do it.'
I wonder if the things they were relying on are like the PPE contract that never existed. Still never mind we can always blame England.
Originally Posted by xsnaggle
From the live wales Croonavirus update
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