The government has tested more than 1.8 million people for COVID-19 and on 17 May 100,678 tests were taken.
A spokesperson for the Department for Health and Social Care said:"We have set up the largest diagnostic testing industry in British history from scratch in a matter of weeks. We are working tirelessly to scale up capacity even further through home testing kits and regional drive-thru sites to make sure everyone who needs a test can get one."
As well as the number of tests, scientists have argued that the time it takes to get results is vital. Earlier this month a scientist advising the government warned that people at risk of COVID-19 need to be alerted within 24 hours for contact tracing to work. Professor Christophe Fraser, a University of Oxford epidemiologist, said the fact that coronavirus spread before people experienced symptoms made speed essential in tracing contacts.Source BioScience is processing tests in 14 hours on average, but that doesn't include the time it takes to get patient swabs to the lab.
"Not only can we transport the virus at room temperature, which makes it far easier to get it in a courier up and down the motorway, it also deactivates the virus at the point the sample is put in the transport media that makes it a much safer environment for our staff handling it."