Coronavirus: Military to test key workers and vulnerable people in prisons and care homes

Government says 96 mobile units will be operating by the start of May amid pressure to hit target

Military personnel are to start operating almost 100 mobile coronavirus testing units for key workers and vulnerable people.

The move was announced after the government was heavily criticised for falling short of its target of 100,000 tests a day, which it aims to reach by next Tuesday.

The Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) said at least 96 of the new units would be ready to deploy by the start of May.

They will be sent to locations where there is “significant demand”, including prisons, care homes, police stations, benefits centres and fire and rescue services

The facilities can be set up in less than 20 minutes and allow for hundreds of people to be tested each day.

Specially-trained members of the armed forces will collect swabs at the mobile sites before they are sent to “mega-labs” for processing, with results available within 48 hours, the DHSC said.

More than 10 million key workers and their households are now eligible for Covid-19 tests, which can now be booked online through the government’s website.

Priti Patel told the daily Downing Street briefing that 28,760 tests were carried on Friday.

As of Sunday morning, there were eight mobile units carrying out tests across the country, in areas including Salisbury, Southport and Teesside.

Lord Bethell, the minister for testing, said: “Everyone who needs a coronavirus test should be able to have access to one. New mobile testing units will travel the country to provide vital frontline workers with tests so those testing negative to safely return to work.”

John Newton, the national testing coordinator, said the new infrastructure would “rapidly increase” the UK’s capacity.

“New mobile testing units will help us achieve our goal of 100,000 coronavirus tests a day, providing tests to vital frontline workers wherever they need them” he added.

“In a matter of weeks we have worked with Britain’s leading scientists, academics and industry partners to build scores of new testing facilities and Britain’s largest network of diagnostic labs in history.”

It follows a pilot scheme carried out last week, which saw DHSC vehicles refitted to become testing facilities, based on a design by army’s Royal Engineers.

The armed forces will staff 92 of the units, while civilian contractors will operate a further four located in Northern Ireland.

Ben Wallace, the defence secretary, said: “Our armed forces will help deliver testing to where it’s most needed, using a network of up to 96 mobile units that will be rolled out in the coming weeks.

“They will make sure our care sector get the testing required to remain in the frontline of the fight against this pandemic.”

Earlier this month, Matt Hancock outlined a five-stage plan to increase testing in Britain, which started with NHS hospitals and named mobile and drive-through facilities for key workers in the second stage.

The next stage is blood testing for antibodies in the wider population, followed by “UK-wide surveillance testing” to learn more about the spread of coronavirus, and finally a “mass-testing capacity”.