Video
Matt Hancock claims it’s ‘meaningless’ to know how many people are being tested for coronavirus
Matt Hancock appears on the BBC to talk coronavirus. Photograph: BBC. - Credit: Archant
Health secretary Matt Hancock has claimed data on how many people are being tested is not 'meaningful', as he defended the government's decision not to show the figures for five weeks.
Questioned by the BBC's Dan Walker on BBC Breakfast, the health secretary said that the numbers 'doesn't add anything to the battle against coronavirus'.
He explained: 'We are publishing a huge amount of data. What I'm saying is as it was measured, this specific figure you were asking for, it just doesn't add anything to the battle against coronavirus.
'And it doesn't help people to know what to do at a local level, because of the fact we are now several months into this fight. So I'm perfectly… I'm happy to… we're working with the UK stats authority to try to find a way to publish it in a way that's meaningful.
'But the meaningful figure is how many tests are conducted, where they're being conducted, and where the positive tests results are. And that's what is important for tackling this virus and that data will be made public.'
You may also want to watch:
But it has left viewers distinctly unimpressed - with Piers Morgan on rival show Good Morning Britain accusing the minister of 'blather'.
He said: 'What are you talking about health secretary? What could be more important bit of data than how many people have been tested? What could be possibly more important? And you pretend it's meaningless how many people have been tested in this country.
Most Read
- 1 Television drama to focus on Boris Johnson's first year in Downing Street
- 2 Comedian wins praise after shaming No 10 during Dancing on Ice appearance
- 3 Boris Johnson claims Labour supporters using Universal Credit vote to incite hatred
- 4 The bigot we should have called out on day one
- 5 The polling that signals the plight of the Union
- 6 Progressive alliance could see Labour win 351 seats at next election, new analysis reveals
- 7 Dominic Raab 'not convinced' collapse of fishing businesses would be result of Brexit deal
- 8 Michael Gove among 14 Tory MPs revealed to have joined banned Parler app
- 9 Leave EU website suspended after EU registry blocks move to Ireland
- 10 The greatest failure of government in our lifetime
'This is the same health secretary in the middle of March that presided over the end of community testing, because that was no longer appropriate.
'And what does this mean that the number of people being tested is meaningless. I wish I could ask him...'
Morgan continued: 'Unbelieveable, it's no longer meaningful to know how many people are being tested in this country'.
His co-presenter Susanna Reid pointed out that they were still counting the number of tests still being sent out, even though some will get lost or thrown away.
Branding it 'blather', Morgan continued: 'There couldn't be anything more significant or meaningful than knowing how many people have been tested and for the health secretary to get away with that blather on the BBC is utterly shocking'.
Become a Supporter
The New European is proud of its journalism and we hope you are proud of it too. We believe our voice is important - both in representing the pro-EU perspective and also to help rebalance the right wing extremes of much of the UK national press. If you value what we are doing, you can help us by making a contribution to the cost of our journalism.