NHS Test and Trace figures published today show the service has now reached more than 1.7 million people, with more than 10 million people in the UK tested at least once. This week's figures come after the government's announcement earlier in the week that the target of reaching 500,000 testing capacity by the end of October has been exceeded.
A total of 32,745,923 tests have now been processed in the UK since the service began. 1,960,138 tests (pillars 1 and 2) were processed during the week 22 to 28 October, an increase of 67,435 compared with the previous week. With 624 test sites already in operation and more opening every week, the median distance people are now travelling to a test centre has continued to decrease, to 2.7 miles.
Latest figures show an improvement in test turnaround times for all in-person tests routes. 61.8% of in-person test results were received the next day after the test was taken, meaning that 3 out of 5 people are receiving next day results. This is compared with 46.5% the previous week, while 86.1% of pillar 1 test results were made available within 24 hours. NHS Test and Trace focuses on using the increase in capacity to deliver ongoing improvements to turnaround times and these continue to trend positively.
With cases continuing to rise across the UK, and local tracing partnerships having been launched with 148 local authorities, the number of people reached by NHS Test and Trace has increased and people are being reached more quickly. During this reporting week, more than 115,660 people who tested positive were reached and asked for their
