UK Personnel Working To Improve Coronavirus 'Testing Capacity'

The Defence Secretary says he has asked the Armed Forces to look at how coronavirus testing capacity can be improved.

It comes after Prime Minister Boris Johnson said military personnel could be used to support police and local authorities, as the UK reaches a "perilous turning point" in the battle against coronavirus.

"Right now I have tasked our troops to look at how we can improve testing capacity if we need to, how we can prepare for flu epidemics in the winter," Ben Wallace said.

Military personnel could be used for "backfilling", with Mr Wallace describing this as releasing police from "perhaps static duties so they can increase the frontline to deal with issues that are presented".

He said duties during the COVID-19 pandemic would likely be "about public order and areas around enforcement, but that is for the police to do".

However, personnel would not be involved in frontline policing, he insisted.

"What we can do is to come in from behind and simply release them from other static duties to let them thicken the blue line.

"The Prime Minister said that the Armed Forces are always an option to look at across any of the assistance to COVID.

"We stand by with giving support to civilian authority no matter what that is, to make sure that we get through this crisis.

"I don’t think when it comes to enforcement we are in a place yet where we are actually required to get engaged.

"Our preference, obviously, is to make sure we are thickening civil response and that's what we do every day – we've done it every day since the crisis and we stand ready to serve when requested.

"We look at each request on its merits but of course it's all about helping society get through this COVID outbreak."

UK Armed Forces personnel have played a key role in the country's response to the coronavirus pandemic.

During the peak of the military's response, 20,000 troops were at readiness, with more than 4,000 of them deployed at any one time.

The Armed Forces have conducted more than 700,000 coronavirus tests at UK sites since April, before their role came to an end in the summer.

More than 2,700 service personnel have run pop-up units since the programme began.

Cover image: MOD.