UK health authorities to take Germany's assistance for scaling up coronavirus testing

British Public Health authorities are in contact with Germany amid criticism that the UK is significantly lagging behind in its coronavirus testing capacity.

According to Paul Cosford, the organisation's medical director ''we’re in constant discussions with colleagues in Germany and other countries around what they’re doing, where their sources are coming from, what their supply system is.''

Also read: How Germany is winning battle against the coronavirus outbreak

''The country is testing nearly 15,000 people a day and aims to reach 25,000 a day by the middle of April.''

He says only ''about 2,000'' frontline National Health Service workers have so far been tested for the virus.

Also read: Coronavirus in UK: Man who coughed on a police officer jailed for six months

Whereas, Germany's leading virologist Christian Drosten said his country is testing 500,000 a week. It is also planning to use cell phone tracking.

It wants to use smartphone location data to track a patient's recent movements and identify those who came in contact with the patient.