Britain’s prime minister told parliament on Wednesday that a COVID-19 test, track and tracing system would be in place by June 1.
Responding to a question from opposition Labor Party Leader Keir Starmer, Boris Johnson said the government has already recruited 24,000 trackers and will have another thousand in place by that date. He said they will be able to trace the contacts of 10,000 new cases a day.
Starmer had accused Johnson of “abandoning” virus tracking and leaving a huge hole in Britain’s COVID-19 defenses.
Tracking and tracing involves testing vast numbers of people, identifying those who test positive, isolating them and tracking those who have come into direct contact with them.
Johnson told the lawmakers the country will be able to test up 200,000 people per day by the end of the month.
The Johns Hopkins University COVID-19 resource center reports that currently, Britain has 35,422 deaths and more than 250,000 confirmed cases of the disease caused by the coronavirus.