On Thursday 17th September, Labour’s shadow foreign secretary flagged up concerns for the lack of testing centres including the absence of a testing centre in Wigan ahead of a potential second Covid-19 wave.
In Wigan Today, Labour MP Lisa Nandy wrote, “It has been clear for months that the quickest and safest way out of this pandemic is an effective test, trace and isolate regime. The government promised us a “world-beating” system but what we have been given by the Prime Minister Boris Johnson and the Health Secretary Matt Hancock is a world-beating fiasco.
“Over the last week we have seen the testing system fall into complete chaos. What’s more, at the time of writing there are no testing sites available anywhere in Wigan according to the government website. Next door in Bolton, where they have the highest infection rate in the country, worried residents are being told to try again later when they attempt to book a test.
“The same picture can be found across Greater Manchester and Lancashire. The North West has 25% of the country’s cases but only 15% of the national testing capacity. The government must get a grip of this shambles, and quickly. We need to stop asking ill people to travel hundreds of miles for a test
