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Business Insider

The UK’s biggest coronavirus test processing facility has been hit by a Covid-19 outbreak of its own, according to a Christmas Eve report from Sky News.
Sky reported that a number of workers at the Milton Keynes Lighthouse Laboratory – which has reportedly been asked to process 70,000 tests per day – have contracted the virus in recent days.
Staff on three of the four scientific teams at the lab, as well as administrative and warehouse workers have been infected, the report said.
It is currently unclear how many people have been impacted by the outbreak.


The British government confirmed to Sky that the outbreak exists, but insisted that the lab has followed all protocols for staying Covid-secure in the workplace.
“NHS Test and Trace continues to test record numbers of people and people can have confidence that if they have symptoms and need a test, they can get one,” the Department of Health and Social Care said in a statement to Sky.
“We are delivering an unprecedented volume of tests – more than 450,000 yesterday alone – and during periods of high demand our focus is ensuring that anyone with symptoms can get a test.”
Workers at the laboratory, however, expressed concerns to Sky News that demands to process a higher volume of tests as the UK battles a rapidly-spreading outbreak of a new coronavirus variant have led to corners being cut. The report said that the centre is being asked to process 70,000 tests per day, but is currently processing around 50,000.
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One worker who asked for anonymity reportedly told the news site that: “Rules put in place to keep staff safe were being broken to meet targets.” The government denied this suggestion when asked by Sky News.
The Milton Keynes’ lab outbreak comes amid surging virus numbers in the UK, which is thought to be the epicentre of a new variant of coronavirus believed by scientists to be significantly easier to transmit person-to-person.
The outbreak has led to tighter restrictions across Britain, and for UK travellers attempting to go overseas, including a short-lived closure of the British-French border, which has caused days of chaos.


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A number of workers at the Milton Keynes Lighthouse Laboratory – which handles 50,000 tests a day – have contracted Covid-19
‘Rules put in place to keep staff safe were being broken to meet targets,’ an employee says



A number of workers at the Milton Keynes Lighthouse Laboratory – which handles 50,000 tests a day – have contracted Covid-19 in recent days.


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