COVID: Soldiers Test And Train Boohoo Staff In Burnley

Soldiers have been training staff at fashion giant Boohoo in Burnley to carry out coronavirus testing on its employees.

The testing and training of the workforce is part of a new pilot.

More than 300 Armed Forces personnel have been deployed across Lancashire to roll out the Systematic Meaningful Asymptomatic Repeated Testing (SMART) programme.

It sees regular COVID testing carried out in businesses, schools and places of worship. 

In a bid to keep the production lines moving through the pandemic, 85% of the fashion retailer's workforce in Burnley has now been tested as part of the pilot. 

Paul Corrigan, head of operations at Boohoo Burnley, told Forces News how they were using the military to COVID-proof their employees.

"We were approached by a local councillor who had offered the opportunity for the council and the Army to come in and support some testing.

"We felt that was the right thing to do as an employer and, therefore, we took up that offer and worked with both parties to start COVID testing."

The troops are teaching the staff to carry out the testing themselves so they can continue to maintain the pilot well after they’ve moved on to help in other areas.

Lieutenant Colonel Mat Davis, Commanding Officer of UK Resilience Unit 30, a crisis response team within the military, outlined the aims of the pilot and how it differs from previous assistance in other areas.

He said: "We’re really hoping there won’t be a rise in positive cases when we leave here because the way that we’ve conducted the testing, it’s been directed by the directors of public health in terms of where we should be going. 

"[It’s] a different model from Liverpool. Liverpool was a number of sites where volunteers could go to be tested, asymptomatic people could go and get a test, whereas we’re identifying where we need to get in to.

"That’s identified by the directors of public health and the local councils who prioritise that, which means that they will continue to do the areas which we are concerned about when we leave, because the capability is there and the idea of timed SMART testing is that it is sustained and it’s repeated.

"If we continue to repeat test in those areas then we should be able to contain the virus," he added.

COVID cases in Burnley are as high as 58 per 100,000.

Local authorities hope the pilot could provide a long-term solution to keeping cases down and target those not displaying symptoms.