Britain's coronavirus testing farce has continued as two teenage boys with symptoms of an 'inflammatory syndrome' were sent &#...
Britain's coronavirus testing farce has continued as two teenage boys with symptoms of an 'inflammatory syndrome' were sent 'useless' kits with no labels or a return address.
Sabrina and Steve Legge, from Bath in Somerset, were left terrified when teenagers Dylan, 16, and Colston, 14, began to display symptoms of an illness linked to the deadly coronavirus.
The couple said both boys had suffered with sickness, diarrhoea, stabbing chest pains and blistering on their tongues since the end of April and were told by an NHS 111 call handler and their GP that the symptoms were 95 per cent likely to be related to Covid-19.
Despite this, the pair claim a medic at their local practice refused to test them, reportedly saying 'we don't hand out tests willy-nilly' and allegedly telling the family only those who are over 18 or critically ill are eligible for NHS testing.
Mr and Mrs Legge then decided to order throat swab testing kits from Randox Laboratories through a government scheme, but when they arrived the parents claim the kits were missing vital labels, instructions and barcode stickers needed for their return.
Pictured: Steve and Sabrina Legge seen before lockdown began with teenagers Dylan and Colston
After calling Randox for guidance, the couple said they were told they were one of 'thousands' of people who called with the same complaint after a packaging error rendered tests 'useless'.
Randox said they were aware of the issue, while the Department of Health added 'urgent action' had been taken to mitigate 'small errors' within the testing process.
Mr Legge said: 'I think it's a disgrace that I, as a taxpayer, am paying for these kits and they're useless.
'I've already had to fight like crazy to see if my kids have got this killer disease, and then when the kits do finally come they are completely useless.
'When we called Randox, the guy on the phone apologised and told us there had been an error with packaging on a batch of tests, that there were thousands and thousands of them, and they'd had thousands of calls related to the same problem.
'They told us the kits were useless.
'You couldn't make it up. With everything that is happening how could they make a mistake like that? It's scary.'
Pictured: The leaflet that came with the Legges' testing kits, explaining 'in this pack you will find three Unique Reference Number labels'
Pictured: The swab shown had a space for the codes to identify who the test belonged to - but there were no codes included in the kit
Last month, GPs alerted to a sharp rise in children being admitted to intensive care with a 'possible SARS-CoV-2 related inflammatory syndrome'.
Cases of this rare inflammatory disease were said to have 'in common overlapping features of toxic shock syndrome and atypical Kawasaki disease with blood parameters consistent with severe Covid-19 in children'.
The alert, issued by a clinical commissioning group, was described as 'significant', with cardiac inflammation and abdominal pain among common symptoms, the Nursing Times reported.
Chief medical officer Professor Chris Whitty said it could 'entirely plausibly' be linked to the coronavirus outbreak, before Health Secretary Matt Hancock warned the new disease could be fatal.
Children who have suffered with this illness have also tested positive for coronavirus, which is why Mr Legge was determined to get the teenagers tested.
Northern Ireland biotech firm Randox Laboratories has partnered with the UK government to supply coronavirus home testing kits to British residents who apply for them online.
The ordering process requires you to enter the details of the person the kit is for, before you are issued a URN code so the test results can be matched up with the correct patient.
But Mr Legge claims when the two tests arrived, they were missing the URN codes, information about how to take the test and barcode stickers needed for couriers to return them.
He said: 'When these kits arrived there were no instructions on where to send them to or anything.
'It said that we needed unique reference numbers but they weren't included and there was no barcode sticker for the courier to scan when you return the test.
Pictured: The outside packaging of the kit showed no address or evidence as to where the kit should be returned to
Randox said they were aware of the issue, while the Department of Health added 'urgent action' had been taken to mitigate 'small errors' with the testing process
'When you order the test you have to put the person's details who the test is for and you get given a unique reference number which should match all those on the kit so they can match up the results with the correct patient.
'When we called up to ask them how to do the test and where they needed to be sent to, they told us there should be a sticker with a barcode for the courier to scan, but it wasn't there either.
'Sabrina has tried to re-order the kits but the website is now saying there's none available. It's a nightmare.
'The boys are very anxious, they're not themselves. We keep trying to reassure them that everything is going to be OK and that we will get them sorted and tested but they are very worried.'
Mrs Legge, who works as a radiology assistant at Bristol Royal Infirmary, has now been forced to self-isolate from her job for two weeks until the couple have answers over whether the boys are coronavirus positive.
Her husband said: 'We called NHS 111 and the handler told us she was 95 per cent sure their symptoms were Covid-related.
'The second opinion from the GP was that they were 95 per cent certain it was Covid related too.
'But we were told they don't test anybody under the age of 18 or that they only test those who are critically ill and/or in intensive care.
'My kids don't need to go into intensive care to get tested, we are trying to stop it from getting to that stage. I'm absolutely disgusted by this, it's a joke.
Pictured: The leaflet included with the testing kit, which explained those being tested need to register URN numbers with Randox
'They have had nearly all the symptoms but they weren't willing to test them. It's a disgrace to the health service.
'My wife is working her socks off helping Covid-19 patients all the time and then as soon as it's your own kids that are sick nobody seems to be able to help.'
A spokesperson for Randox said the organisation was 'aware of the issue', adding that it was 'being looked at' by those responsible for distribution.
'We are aware of the issue ... which is being looked at by those within the national testing programme who are responsible for testing kit distribution,' a statement said.
'It should be noted that Randox is only one partner within a multi-partner, national testing programme.
'The programme is being run and coordinated by the Department of Health and Social Care and they would be best placed to comment on the overall programme.'
A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Care added: 'We are aware of a small number of home test kits that were incorrectly dispatched without a return label.
'We are urgently seeking to resolve this so anyone affected can either be provided with a new label or order a replacement kit online, which won't be counted in the daily figures.
'We're rapidly expanding testing and have increased the numbers of those eligible over the last week.
'Nearly a million people have now been tested in the UK and the vast majority report no issues with the testing process.
'Where, in a small number of instances, process errors have been highlighted to us, we have taken urgent action to implement robust mitigations to the testing process.'
The distribution of these 'useless' kits comes after up to 50,000 coronavirus test samples had to be sent from the UK to the US after 'operational issues' in the lab network led to delays in the system.
The Department of Health said sending swabs abroad is one of the contingencies to deal with so-called teething problems in a rapidly-expanded testing system.
It is understood the test results will be validated back in the UK and communicated to patients 'as quickly as possible'.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Social Care said: 'The expansion of the UK's coronavirus testing network has involved setting up an entirely new 'Lighthouse' lab network to process test swabs.
'When problems arise, we have contingencies in place which include creating extra temporary capacity for our labs or sending swabs abroad to partner labs for completion.
'Of course, our partner labs must match our high standards.'
The government has repeatedly missed Matt Hancock's target of 100,000 Covid-19 tests per day, with figures yesterday falling short of this number for the seventh day in a row.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said 96,878 tests were conducted in the 24 hours to 9am on Saturday, down from 97,029 the day before.
This is far from Boris Johnson's 'ambition' of 200,000 tests per day by the end of May.
Heath leaders insisted they expected 'fluctuations' in the figures, claiming the testing was still much higher than it was at the start of the outbreak.
Deputy chief medical officer Professor Jonathan Van-Tam said not much could be read into day-to-day variations.
He told the Downing Street press briefing: 'We are now really at a high plateau, in the region of 100,000 tests per day.
'There is some fluctuation, and quite frankly I expect there to be some fluctuation on a day-to-day basis.
'I don't think we can read too much into day-to-day variations, but the macro-picture is this is now at a much, much higher level than it ever was at the beginning of this crisis.'
It was reported today that Britain could ditch its coronavirus contact-tracing app before it has even been rolled out nationwide.
Communities secretary Robert Jenrick revealed the app - being piloted on the Isle of Wight - may need to 'adapt' or 'move to a different model'.
Fewer than 50,000 people living on the island, or 35 per cent of its population, have downloaded the app since the trial began last week.
But experts say around two-thirds of Britain - the equivalent of 40million people - will eventually need to install the app for it to work.
The app, which works using Bluetooth, alerts users if they have been in close contact with someone who has reported symptoms of COVID-19.
But its design has sparked privacy concerns, with officials admitting the 'centralised' NHS approach sees personal data stored in one database.
Other nations have adopted an app model which stores data in a 'decentralised' way, meaning the app does not harvest location data.
Google and Apple's own decentralised tech has been adopted by European nations including Germany, Ireland and Switzerland.
Health chiefs - keen to roll the app out nationwide in the next week - are understood to be looking at switching to the system used by the two tech giants.
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