In an attempt to slow one of the highest coronavirus death tolls in the West, Prime Minister Boris Johnson promised in May to create a “world-beating” system to test and trace people exposed to the virus.

But repeated attempts by Reuters reporters to get COVID-19 tests failed while at a walk-in testing centre at Southend-on-Sea in eastern England hundreds of people were queuing to get a test – some from as early as 0500 GMT.

“Laboratory capacity has been an issue, we are working our way through that,” Justice Secretary Robert Buckland told Sky News.

“We’ll do whatever it takes to make sure we have that capacity,” he said. “We know where the pressure points are, we are piloting new walk-in test centres.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock said on Tuesday that fixing the system would take weeks. Buckland said health workers, care home workers and school children and their parents should get priority for tests.