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HEALTH SECRETARY Matt Hancock was rebuked by Britain’s statistics watchdog today over coronavirus testing figures which are “still far from complete and comprehensible.”
UK Statistics Authority chairman Sir David Norgrove criticised the way the figures are presented at the daily Downing Street briefings, with the headline total including both tests carried out and those posted to recipients but not yet conducted.
The government claims it has hit the targets it set: carrying out 100,000 tests a day by the end of April and having the capacity for 200,000 tests of various kinds by the end of May.
But Mr Norgrove said: “The testing statistics still fall well short of its expectations. It is not surprising that, given their inadequacy, data on testing are so widely criticised and often mistrusted.”
He raised particular concerns about the lack of data on how many of the tests posted out are in fact then successfully completed and the lack of information on the date when tests were carried out.
