Over 4 MILLION swab tests have now been "sent out" but never actually tested by a lab. These tests were counted in the government's headline figures but never used.

And that's just diagnostic (Pillar 2) tests.

300,000 surveillance (Pillar 4) tests haven't been processed either.

This comes only 4 weeks after I dug into the first new format daily report and found that two thirds of all tests "sent out" had never been returned and tested in a lab.

Since then another 2 MILLION tests have gone missing! https://twitter.com/_johnbye/status/1279589319922061314?s=20

A quick glance at the daily data shows how the numbers got so bad so fast.

The number of tests sent out has gone up in recent weeks, but the number actually being processed in labs hasn't.

Three quarters of all Pillar 2 tests "sent out" so far now appear to have gone to waste!

We still don't know what happened to most of these missing tests, but here's what we do know -

1) 1,071,103 tests were sent out as part of the "whole care home" testing programme.

But they came in boxes of 50, regardless of how many a home asked for.

Only 397,197 test results were reported.

So 673,906 of the tests seem to have been left unused. https://twitter.com/_johnbye/status/1283140810339475457?s=19

2) According to the latest figures available, only 62% of home tests were being returned and tested as of June.

By mid July 1.3 million had been sent out.

So about 500,000 tests would have gone missing up to mid-July, unless return rates improved. https://twitter.com/_johnbye/status/1286938797624655872?s=19

3) Swabs sent out by Randox weren't properly sterilised. The government told people to throw away any unused tests.

This now seems to have stopped regular testing of care home workers and residents.

Over 500,000 tests are thought to have been wasted. https://twitter.com/_johnbye/status/1289559095331000320?s=19