Covid Committee In Action 21st September 2020
PRE-2nd LOCKDOWN EXCLUSIVE PIC!
Johnson Hancock and Cummings with their handlers
As the UK, already under many local restrictions, largely being ignored, goes into further lockdown, as schools have returned, and Universities are about to follow, many BOLD statements have been made by Government types, like Johnson Sturgeon Starmer and others. One (Johnson) suggested there would be a “Moonshot” mass testing programme introduced by the end of the year, involving saliva technology that hasn’t been approved or officially accepted. Another (Hancock) suggested that Track and Trace was reaching 80% of its target. Government’s own figures when analysed by the ONS put this at 53% at best. Less than 80% means the system is failing. BUT HURRAH. There WILL be an app for England finally. It’s the Google/Apple Test-Trace app (used by a lot of the rest of the world for months and turned down by Public Health England), and it will be released on September 24th.
ALL the other finger-prick tests, saliva tests, free antibody tests and more have not been delivered. Not one. They’ve all been detailed on these pages here, but STILL, if you want an antibody test, you pay £85-125 for it, if you want a Covid swab test, you can hardly get one at all (because the private labs the government have tendered results analysis to have NOT got the capacity to deal with the number of applications) and the government didn’t think the NHS labs (of which there are loads) should get the work, and if you want a home test kit or a drive in appointment, “You’ll be lucky”. Or rather, according to the Government’s friend the Daily Mail:
Britain's biggest Covid testing lab 'is prioritising private work over NHS after signing contracts to test rugby stars and travellers to Dubai while missing targets for public.' Randox Lab in Northern Ireland have admitted that as a Private Company handling a quarter of the UK’s tests, very much fewer than one in ten tests are done on time (on September 9th, for instance) and a private deal done with “a multimillionaire” has resulted in passengers travelling to Dubai getting priority screening.
The lab employs Conservative MP Owen Paterson as a consultant for £100,000 a year which easily surpasses his salary as an MP.
Paterson has previously lobbied the government on behalf of the company. Randox has insisted its relationship with Mr Paterson had no role in it winning the multimillion contract from the government.
The firm is said be having major staffing problems - with 35,000 tests voided since the start of August.
The company, based in County Antrim, Northern Ireland, is said to be blaming leaks, damaged tubes and people sending urine rather than saliva, as the reason for voiding the tests. This flipping company has been around since 1982! Tory consultants have resulted in people like now BARONESS Dido (Trace? Who’s Trace?) Harding being placed in control of that “system”…..
In July, Randox was forced to recall half a million test kits after checks revealed they were not sterile.
In short, in this country, the rule of incompetent and immoral cronyism again results in disgusting incompetence. Overseas observers galore have mocked the hopeless testing (and tracing) strategy in the UK. If more patients are released into Care Homes (to prepare for increasing hospital capacity if there’s a full on Second Wave of infection, which looks like is rapidly approaching), there will simply be More Deaths. End Of (as the youngsters say).
https://www.abingdonhealth.com/uk-covid-19-rapid-antibody-tests-approved-for-professional-use/
World Data Sep 20th 2020