The UK’s Covid-19 testing capability will more than double, and a new large laboratory will open early next year as a sign that the government plans to continue the pandemic, despite hopes from a number of potential vaccinations. .
The facilities, one at Leamington Spa and the other in an unidentified location in Scotland, will employ up to 4,000 people and increase the number of PCR tests – the gold standard water tests already used in the UK – that are carried out every day. with 600,000 can be processed, from the current 520,000.
The government said a “megalaboratory” would speed up processing of tests, while the health secretary, Matt Hancock, said it would be useful to “provide our nationally resilient infrastructure to respond to future epidemics”.
The laboratory will be active and operational in the first months of next year, the Department Health and Social Care (DHSC) said last night. There are no details on the costs or who will manage them.
A leading scientist behind the BioNTech / Pfizer vaccine candidate, which passed interim clinical trials and demonstrated 90% effectiveness in preventing sick people, said on Sunday that he was “very confident” it will also reduce transmission of the corona virus with “maybe 50%”.
Prof Ugur Sahin, CEO of BioNTech, told the BBC that the goal is to return to normal by the coming winter, with a vaccine program launched in 2021.
His comments and the construction of a new laboratory reinforce warnings that the end of the pandemic is still months away. However, the head of the Office for National Statistics, Prof. Sir Ian Diamond, on Sunday confirmed the “slowdown in growth rates” in cases across the country.
With two weeks left of restrictions in the UK, Prof Susan Michie, a member of Sage, said over the weekend the public must fight against the rule violation so I can see family over Christmas. Prof John Edmunds, another Sage member, added: “We need to take a long-term and prudent view and realize that we have to put some restrictions in place for some time.”
Except for the BioNTech / Pfizer vaccines, some of these may be ready to launch before Christmas, as long as results and approvals go as expected. more than 170 other vaccine candidates are in development, 11 of them are currently in phase 3 efficacy testing.
Results from the University of Oxford / AstraZeneca vaccine candidate are expected in a few weeks, and there is also great hope for candidates from American company Moderna.
If a new laboratory is not needed for Covid testing, it will be used to improve the ability to repair diseases, including cancer, cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, DHSC said.
The UK already has five lighthouse laboratories at Milton Keynes, Alderley Park, Glasgow, Cambridge and Newport, while others are set up in Charnwood, Newcastle, Brants Bridge and Plymouth.
Meanwhile, Labor leader Keir Starmer wrote to Boris Johnson asking for a national vaccine vaccination plan, which he predicts could become Britain’s biggest logistics operation since World War II. The government has already ordered 40 million doses of BioNTech / Pfizer vaccine – enough for 20 million people to receive the double dose needed.
Starmer said city halls and sports centers may need to be converted into local vaccine clinics. He also wanted to look at the criteria for getting vaccines and guarantees of “fair access… wherever you live”.
The new lab will process tests that are carried out at hundreds of test sites across the country and at home. On Sunday, it was revealed that a testing site run by G4S in Postwick, near Norwich, had closed after four people tested positive for the virus.
“The site will be thoroughly cleaned according to UK Public Health guidelines and reopened as soon as possible,” said a G4S spokesman.
Dido Harding, CEO NHS testing and detection, said the new laboratory is needed to accommodate the growing number of testing areas where people go for immersion tests. About 300,000 PCR tests are processed every day – double the number in August and ten times the number at the end of April.
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The new laboratory is separate from the “Operation Moonshot” rapid testing program, which delivers results in less than an hour with different technologies and is being tested in Liverpool, Stoke-on-Trent and starting Monday with visitors to about 20 nursing homes in Hampshire, Cornwall and Devon.
“The addition of this new laboratory means an increase in our testing capacity next year,” said Harding. “This not only means more tests, but also means that it can be processed faster, and the time it takes to get results is reduced.”
Health Minister Lord Bethell, who is overseeing the testing, said of the new laboratory: “This work is critical to tackling Covid-19 and allowing a more normal life to return.”
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