MINISTERS are on course to miss two key targets vital to the handling of the coronavirus pandemic amid a growing backlash last night.
Just 18,000 Covid-19 tests are being carried out each day – 7,000 short of the 25,000 daily tests Boris Johnson promised by April 18.
And it is less than a fifth of the 100,000-a-day target for the end of the month set by Health Secretary Matt Hancock less than a fortnight ago.
Meanwhile the number of ventilators available to the NHS is also below what the Government promised.
Last week Mr Hancock set a target of increasing the number of ventilators by 1,500 in a week but No10 revealed that only an extra 200 have been delivered.
But the NHS has substantially boosted its number of vacant intensive care beds to ensure it has the capacity to deal with the peak of the virus.
There were also fresh concerns that there could be hundreds of people suffering from life-threatening conditions who are failing to seek help.
An analysis by the Spectator found that the average figure for non-coronavirus patients in critical care beds was around 3,300 before the crisis, but this has fallen to just over 2,000 now.
This suggests that around 1,300 people who need critical care could be staying away due to the coronavirus crisis.
No10 said the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE), which guides the Government’s policy on lockdown measures, will consider the impact on non-coronavirus patients when analysing the impact of the social distancing measures.
It comes after Mr Hancock said the NHS has 2,295 vacant critical care beds, which compared with an average of 800 before the crisis hit.
And the NHS has moved to a new rule of thumb, according to the Spectator magazine, whereby a third of NHS intensive care beds are being taken up by Covid-19 patients, a third by other patients and a third are left empty.
