The proportion of people in England receiving an in-person Covid-19 test result within the government's 24-hour target period has hit its lowest point since the middle of June.
Test and Trace chief Baroness Dido Harding told MPs the latest capacity for Covid-19 tests stands at 242,000 across the UK, but that demand was currently three to four times higher.
The former Talk Talk boss conceded that tests were lying unused at testing sites, lest they go out of date at backlogged laboratories, where she said the “constraint” lay in the system.
It came as more than 1.5 million people across the northeast of England prepare to be placed under new coronavirus restrictions, bringing the total subject to additional measures to nearly 10 million across the country.
The new rules will see residents banned from socialising outside their own households or support bubble, leisure and entertainment venues shut between 10pm and 5am, and table service only in bars and restaurants from midnight on Thursday.
And globally, reported infections surpassed 30 million, according to a Reuters tally, as countries’ combined official death tolls neared the million mark.
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