Troops in afghanistan last year. Now on bbc news, panorama. Tonight on panorama the great testing gamble. The stakes are very high indeed. Testing is absolutely critical and central to preventing a second wave now. Thousands of lives now depend on the government getting testing right. We should be very concerned, until we can see there is a fully effective testing and Contact Tracing system in place. So why do our covid investigators have nothing to do . I have had zero cases. Absolutely zero. And why havent millions of test results been shared with the nhs . There is no transfer of data into a clinical record at the moment. I gather theres an aspiration to do that in the next few weeks. But we need it now. It would have been helpful to have it a few weeks ago. Were facing an invisible killer. So we need to see every road, every place, where covid is spreading. The only way to track the movement of the disease is to test. So we can follow the infections and trace those that may have it. Now, after so many deaths, the uk is relying on this system to keep us safe as we come out of lockdown. I think its a real worry that we are lifting the lockdown restrictions in a slightly sort of shambolic fashion, without a proper test, trace and isolate system. Everyone wants to get out of lockdown but we need to get out of lockdown safely, otherwise we are going to see mini flare ups, epidemics, around in regions and people are going to die as a result. So far, the data suggests our testing hasnt been impressive. Only detecting around one in four infections in the community. We have already reached a target of 10,000 tests per day, as committed. For most of this crisis, testing has been about numbers. Were ramping up the testing, with capacity now at over 73,000. The number of tests yesterday,
the last day of april, was 122,347. I think it was helpful and, from a situation where we didnt have enough Testing Capacity, i think that decision to target 100,000 and to really throw everything at getting that, transformed the Testing Capacity that we had. The ambition, clearly, is to get up to 200,000 a day by the end of this month and then to go even higher. Of course, more tests are better than fewer. But some say focusing just on daily targets is not enough. Trusts were saying very clearly that they were concerned
that the over obsessive focus on the 100,000 target was distorting what should have been a strategic approach to testing, and that we were just chasing that target and we were missing the fact that trusts were simply not able to get patients and staff tested quick enough, certainly within the 24 Hour International standard turnaround time. The pursuit of big numbers was about a government trying to fight back from a bad start. When covid first hit, the uk didnt have enough testing. We couldnt see the disease spreading. The government then stopped all testing, apart from patients already in hospitals. We will pivot all of the Testing Capacity to identify people in hospitals who have got symptoms. But we needed to urgently increase the number of tests we could do. Rather than relying solely on our Public Sector labs, the government asked private companies to build a new testing system. It includes the drive through centres that collect samples and the not for profit labs that check for the disease. So this is one of the new labs thats being used to process covid tests, and weve been told that, here, they have quite a high rate of failed tests. But these void tests are still counted in the government figures. Its usually not the labs fault. There have been problems with the samples collected nationwide. Mistakes and kit that doesnt work means that more than 90,000 tests have had to be voided. Accountancy Firm Deloitte oversees the private companies that collect the samples for profit. It says 97 of tests are valid. And that void tests are immediately investigated. Any improvements are implemented as quickly as possible. I dont think it would have surprised anyone in advance if you had said that, in some cases, there will be teething problems that will need to be ironed out, not everything will work right first time. But, nevertheless, ithink its been very important to establish that capacity. Ijust need you to take the foil off and seal it for me. There is also a basic design flaw. The private network was built at speed and wasnt fully integrated with the nhs, so test results werent passed between the two systems. They are sent to the person whos been tested and Public Health england, but local councils, hospitals and gps are left in the dark. So somebody is tested, somebody in this area gets tested. Their gp, their hospital, wont get to know that data. No. There is no transfer of data into clinical record at the moment. I gather there is an aspiration to do that in the next few weeks. But we need it now. Well, it would have been helpful to have it a few weeks ago. How big an issue is this parallel structure, and this kind of data black hole . How big an issue is it . You know, if you assume testing does contribute to our management of the pandemic and that eventually saves lives, if were not delivering effective testing, then that has to cost lives. The department of health says the public and private labs complement each other. Its working to link test results to patients records. Weve also examined how the tests are taken in the new privately run system. Either you are sent a test in the post or you use one of the drive through testing centres. Im on my way to a testing facility, which is in the car park of manchester citys etihad stadium. Its staff are low paid. Workers told us they havent seen
a nurse or doctor on site. Ppe isnt used properly. And front line staff have had hardly any training. The words of one worker are spoken by an actor. I was really, really surprised by the lack of medical involvement. I assumed thered be doctors or nurses on site and i assumed the tests would be carried out by Health Care Workers. Its jarring to know the sites not run by the nhs, even though its written everywhere. The same gloves are used all day by people on exit and entry lanes from what ive seen. Its a hotbed for infection, so we need to take precautions. I feel the government has made a serious error with the reliance on untried private Sector Companies to run these drive through testing centres, when they could have chosen to use the expertise already there in our local government, in Public Health england, and build that up instead, because you have there the Clinical Experts that you need to do this to the right standard. Deloitte says it doesnt oversee the daily running of the site but all staff must have the required training for their roles and comply with national ppe guidelines. The department of health says its a fantastic achievement, to have built a large scale Testing Programme which can now provide a test to anybody who needs one and can deliver more than 200,000 tests per day. 8. 7 million tests have been delivered thanks to the public and private sector working together. Speaks german. This is how they do testing in germany. The first step is to validate
the insurance card of the driver and his telephone number, in case he is positive. In heidelberg, its a doctor in full ppe, supported by medical students. They have an operation suit, ffp2 mask, face shield and, all the time, they are wearing three pairs of hand gloves. And you are a doctor, is there always a doctor here . Its necessary that one doctor is here all the time. If it is difficult to get in there, a doctor can maybe help. And the system seems to be working. There have been isolated outbreaks, but most of germany is pretty much back to normal. Germany has a bigger
population than the uk, but has had about a fifth of our covid deaths. One big difference is they built Testing Capacity much earlier, so they could test those with symptoms and those without. That matters, because many people who have covid, they show no symptoms, so no one knows that they are infected and they are spreading the disease around. And if they work in a hospital or a care home, then that could be deadly. If you only chase the people with symptoms, can you defeat the disease . I dont think so. Why . Because if you just only test those with symptoms, you just do not get the whole iceberg, you just only see the top of it. And, so, you are running behind, actually. All of this should be no surprise to the uk. Ive been here for three and a half, four years now. So thats our lab environment
there, thats my office. Researchers at this top lab put out a warning back in april. So these are actual swabs, or whats come from swabs . Thats right, this is the sort of residue from the swab. And the government was told about the risks. Covid 19 was different from other viruses and had a dangerous characteristic. Just under half of infections could be associated with a significant period where that person is asymptomatic. Weve been very surprised about this and quite shocked. There can be a peak period of infectivity, two to three days before the onset of symptoms. And, so, if you dont know youve got symptoms but are highly infectious, that, to us,
is a very dangerous position to be in when you are providing health care to vulnerable patients. The difficulty is, if you dont look for it, you wont find it. But because we only had limited Testing Capacity, for months, the uk could only test those with symptoms. That meant people who didnt know they were infectious were spreading the disease in our communities and in our hospitals. Should the government have reacted more quickly when they became aware that asymptomatic carriers were a big problem . My view is, yes, they should have done. The only conclusion i can come to on the basis of the evidence that is widely available now is that asymptomatic transmission occurred in Health Care Worker environments, in Community Care homes, almost certainly. The numbers of deaths, i would not be able to estimate, but i am certain that deaths
occurred as a result of this. Health care workers can infect vulnerable patients as they move between wards, so the warning was straightforward test front line staff in hospitals, or the disease will spread. I think looking back, this is a major flaw that follows directly from a lack of capacity. It goes back to this question of choice and prioritisation that if you had enough capacity, you wouldnt have to do. But if you have a limited number of tests available, then its not surprising that you will focus them on people with symptoms. The government says its prioritising nhs staff and wants to introduce more regular testing. But routine testing still isnt widely available. You cant describe the testing regime as fit for purpose until you have got a regime that is able to consistently and regularly test all staff
and all patients, and the really worrying bit is, we dont have a clear plan and timeline of when were going to get there. It matters because when nhs staff arent tested, lives are at risk. In may, the loosening of the lockdown drew big crowds to weston super mare. The local hospital was forced to shut for more than two weeks after being overwhelmed with covid cases. Many thought the day trippers had brought the disease with them here to weston super mare, but it wasnt their fault. Covid was actually being spread around the hospital by nhs staff and by patients. Many staff didnt know they had the disease, because they hadnt been tested and they didnt have symptoms. There wasnt easy access to testing and it was very hit and miss. The reality seems to be that the lack of testing meant that staff were going into work, being exposed to the illness and asymptomatic staff were still going about their work and quite innocently adding to that infection risk. And the lack of testing meant the hospital didnt know how widely the virus was spreading. Dad never had a picture by himself. It was always with family, one of us. Aman dias was a hospital worker who fell ill at the start of april. My dad is a very fun loving, kind, gentle, humble man anyone could ever meet, honestly. Like, me and amy are just truly blessed by god that we had a dad like him. His whole family are health workers, though we dont know where he caught covid. He isolated at home but was refused a test until he was taken to hospital. When he was taken to the hospital, i called my dad up and he said, im getting put on a ventilator, darling. I love you, i have to go because they want me. I need to go. Mum told us that the last she saw of my dad was him waving kisses and saying goodbye to her. It was horrible, like, a horrible feeling. And at 9. 30, the nurse
said, hes gone. Hes gone. And it was like, what else can we do . To see my dad walk out of the door on his own two feet, he walked out on his own and he never came back. Six weeks after ama died, the hospital closed and all staff were finally tested. The results were shocking. 100 members of staff at this hospital were infected with the disease. And patients were infected too. Weve discovered that in april, there were 29 covid related deaths. In may, there were 27. Ama died in april, but the hospital says his infection occurred before the outbreak and was unconnected. I know for a fact that my dad was taken care of very well by the hospital people. They all know my mum and dad. The only thing that could have been done for a lesson is a simple thing like testing. If that was there, you never know what the outcome could have been. Weston hospital says it has tried to follow National Testing rules, and made significant efforts to minimise staff movements. The trust is now undertaking a serious incident investigation and has commissioned a Lessons Learned review. It wasnt just here. 20 of all covid patients
are thought to catch it in hospital. It seems to me that we ought to have cracked probably some weeks ago and put in place a regime of testing asymptomatic people at least in those settings that are particularly risky, especially in care homes and nhs settings. The price of the missteps and the mistakes the government has made is that more people have died than should have. There have been avoidable deaths in this country from covid 19. Testing is only half the answer. In germany, and almost every country that successfully contained covid, its about tracing everyone who might be infected, and this is the model that we are now putting ourfaith in. The way this works in a community is, anyone who tests positive here in germany, theyre phoned and they are asked who they have been in contact with. Those contacts are then asked to isolate. Bit by bit, the disease is chased out of the city. She speaks german theyve been Contact Tracing since the start of the outbreak. Its run by the local Public Health authority. We track down people who have gotten contact, without knowing they have gotten a contact to the coronavirus. So we are trying to, like, close it down. And the tracers keep in touch, to make sure everyone potentially touched by the disease is identified. We are asking, it is like a little bit of Sherlock Holmes situation here, we are detectives. It takes a lot of patience to ask on the telephone, where have you been the last day . Where have you been two days before . And so we have been able to find for, say, one patient, about ten contact people. What has test and trace done for this community . I think it has saved lives. I think it has saved maybe a lot of lives. Tracing allows us to see how the disease is spreading through our communities. But with the phone app now delayed, do we have a Strong Enough system in place . We will have a test, track and trace operation that will be world beating and, yes, it will be in place. It will be in place byjune the 1st. Englands new tracing system has only been running for a month. Its in two parts. There are existing teams of local Public Health experts, who work on the bigger outbreaks in places like schools and care homes. And, then, there are 25,000 new contact tracers working from home. Most are low paid and working for private companies. They are supported by staff
with medical experience. So, prior to today, ive had zero cases. Absolutely zero, none at all. And ive done approximately two to three shifts per week. Ifeel guilty for being paid to do nothing. The workers we spoke to didnt want to be identified because they could lose theirjobs. The majority of the days that i have worked, i have not had any contacts to trace at all. At first, i thought that i was doing something wrong and ive joined some help groups on social media and other staff who are saying the same, they are reassuring me that its the same for everybody. Me sitting here clicking refresh, and i will do that now, clicking refresh, nothing. There are no cases for me to do. No, absolutely nothing. But the government says its built a new service on a scale never seen before and having an overcapacity is a real success. Its already helped to stop 100,000 people from unknowingly spreading the virus. So whats going on . How can the new tracing system have contacted that many people, if the call handlers say they are hardly speaking to anyone . But the governments figures werent just for call centre workers. They also include cases that were being managed by professional teams on the ground and its these Public Health experts that are responsible for identifying and tracing most of the contacts. So, its not the governments 25,000 new recruits. The most recent figures show 113,000 contacts traced. But, if you dig into the detail, you find that only 15,000 of those were traced by the expensive new call centre. The vast majority were contacted byjust 870 staff in the Public Health teams. The most recent figures show
113,000 contacts traced. But, if you dig into the detail, you find that only 15,000 of those were traced by the expensive new call centre. The vast majority were contacted byjust 870 staff in the Public Health teams. It was a surprisingly positive result. We thought, great, at last, maybe they are getting to grips with this. So then to discover that, actually, this was largely down to the work that was already going on in the background, i do find that very disappointing. I think the government, you know, werent clear about that and the public have been misled. Its hardly surprising the new call handlers have nothing to do. In the first three weeks of the scheme, on average, theyve had less than one successful contact call each. That matters, because almost a quarter of people who test positive for covid are still not being reached at all. Weve got to get it right. This cannot just be swept under the carpet. We need this to work now. Its really surprising, when you see the politicians at the briefing saying how well the Contact Tracing service is going, because the people that are actually working for the service know that thats not true. Absolutely not true. Right now, keeping the disease in check is the difference between life and death. Thousands of lives are at risk if test and trace doesnt work. Fighting against a pandemic situation means you have to know who has the disease. If you do not know, you are running behind all the time. With less than 10 of our population having been infected, i think the maths are quite clear in my mind that the stakes are very high indeed. Our fight against this killer disease depends on finally getting testing right. This is bbc news. Welcome if youre watching here in the uk, on pbs in america, or around the globe. My name is mike embley. Our top stories a coronavirus warning the leading american virus expert says case numbers in the us are going in the wrong direction. We are now having [10,000 plus new cases a day. I would not be surprised if we go up to 100,000 a day. Hong kong marks the 23rd anniversary of the former british territory reverting back to chinese sovereignty, as beijing imposes a tough new National Security law. The new research which suggests the virus can lead to strokes and long term brain damage. Hi, my name is kaitlyn. I am nine years old, and im a figure skater. Grace, poise, and a message of hope. The young skater capturing the hearts of millions,