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Critical care nurses, intensive care staff, emergency departments, ambulance services, GPs will be front of the queue. Other essential public sector staff, including social care workers, will be able to receive tests when capacity is increased. New field hospitals in Manchester Central Convention Centre and Birmingham National Exhibition Centre will be opened to help the health service cope with the strains of the rise in Covid 19 cases.
A temporary morgue which could hold up to 12,000 bodies is being set up at Birmingham Airport to cope with a surge in deaths because of the disease.
Cabinet minister Michael Gove took the daily Downing Street press conference after Boris Johnson and Health Secretary Matt Hancock went down with the virus.
He said the Government had brought together universities, businesses and research institutes in a “new alliance” to boost testing capacity for frontline workers.
The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster said the testing programme would assess if health service workers with symptoms or living with others who do currently have the disease.
He said: “These tests will be trialled for people on the frontline starting immediately, with hundreds to take place by the end of the weekend – dramatically scaling up next week.”
Medics will be front of the queue to get tested for COVID-19 (Image: Getty)
Mr Gove said scientific analysis showed the rate of infection has been doubling every three to four days.
This new NHS testing programme will help end the uncertainty of whether staff need to stay at home.
Those who test negative for coronavirus will be able to return to work, easing the strain on the overstretched health service.
Jenny Harries, deputy chief medical officer, said the testing laboratories will operate round the clock.
She said: “Laboratory-based testing on this scale is a little like building the medical equivalent of a car factory.
Michael Gove said the rate of infection is doubling every four days (Image: Getty)
“We are assembling many different parts, some of them quite specialised and hard to find, then getting them to work accurately together in a highly-coordinated process.
“There are bound to be teething problems, so we cannot switch on hundreds of thousands of lab tests overnight.
“But we hope that soon these hub laboratories will be operating round the clock, allowing us to significantly scale up our testing.”
Dozens of universities, research institutes and companies are lending their testing equipment to three new hub laboratories that will be in place for the duration of the crisis.
The first lab is expected to be ready today and will initially process around 800 samples.
Jenny Harries said the testing laboratories will run around the clock (Image: Getty)
It will be scaled up every week, with two other hub laboratories being stocked with equipment and opening soon.
Amazon and Royal Mail are helping with logistics of the programme while Boots has been supporting initial trials by supplying volunteer healthcare clinicians as testers.
But no tests will be done at Boots stores and there will not be available over the counter or from any retailers.
Rico Back, Royal Mail Group chief executive officer, said: “Royal Mail fully understands the devastating impact of the coronavirus outbreak on families, businesses and communities across the UK. We will safely deliver these vital tests, a key step forward in the nation’s battle against the virus.”
Work began yesterday at Birmingham Airport to convert a hangar into a temporary morgue for 1,500 bodies.
The number of COVID-19 cases are rising as Britain peaks (Image: Getty)
Police chiefs say the huge mortuary could be expanded to cope with more bodies as the grim death toll continues to climb.
It is understood the site could expand to accommodate up to 12,000 bodies.
The West Midlands is considered a coronavirus hot-spot with 112 deaths recorded so far. London has had the most cases and deaths, and officials in the capital have scrambled to convert the London ExCeL centre into the Nightingale Hospital with 4,000 extra beds as demand for beds soars.
Every region of the UK could have a temporary hospital at the height of the coronavirus crisis.
An airport spokesperson said a hangar would be used for the temporary morgue, with land available to expand.
West Midlands Police said regional mortuaries may close as staff were transferred to the new facility, which could eventually accommodate all deaths across the West Midlands.
Senior Birmingham Coroner Louise Hunt said: “We understand that it is a very difficult time for everyone and we will do all that we can to make sure bereaved families understand what is happening to their loved ones and to release them for funeral as soon as we can.”
More hospitals, like the one at Excel, could be built to cope with demand (Image: Getty)
Assistant Chief Constable Vanessa Jardine, of West Midlands Police, who chairs the Strategic Co-ordination Group (SCG) which oversees the multi-agency response, said:
“This is a major incident but by bringing all public sector agencies and partners together we are able to better deal with this challenge together and work jointly at a critical time of need.
“The temporary mortuary is just one example of how we are all working together to best serve our local people.”
An airport spokesperson said: “Birmingham Airport can confirm that it is working with the authorities to provide land and a hangar for a temporary mortuary site at the Elmdon side of Birmingham Airport, to support with the Covid-19 pandemic.
“This mortuary is anticipated to accommodate the deceased from across the region, including those not related to coronavirus.
“Birmingham Airport will do its utmost to support this multi-agency response during these difficult times.”
A temporary mortuary was also yesterday being constructed in the car park of the South Essex Crematorium in Upminster, Essex.
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