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Britain’s busiest coronavirus testing laboratory was hit by an outbreak of COVID-19 itself, according to a report by Sky News.
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Several employees at the Lighthouse Laboratory in Milton Keynes have contracted the virus in the past few days, amid pressure to process more tests.
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Lab workers told Sky that during the push, shortcuts to COVID’s safe working protocols were cut.
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The government confirmed the existence of the outbreak, but denied that any safety guidelines were violated in the laboratory.
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It is not clear how many laboratory workers were infected.
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The UK’s largest coronavirus test processing facility was hit by an outbreak of COVID-19 itself, according to a Christmas Eve report from Sky News.
Sky reports that several workers at the Milton Keynes Lighthouse Laboratory – who were reportedly asked to process 70,000 tests a day – contracted the virus in the past few days.
Employees from three of the lab’s four scientific teams, as well as administrative and warehouse employees, have been infected, says Sky.
It is currently unclear how many people were affected by the outbreak.
The British government confirmed to Sky that the outbreak exists, but insisted that the laboratory followed all protocols to maintain the safety of COVID in the workplace.
“The NHS Test and Trace continues to test a record number of people and people can be confident that if they have symptoms and need a test, they can get it,” 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 just yesterday – and during periods of high demand our focus is on ensuring that anyone with symptoms can get tested.”
Lab workers, however, expressed concern at Sky News, which is demanding to process a larger volume of tests as the United Kingdom fights an outbreak of a rapidly spreading new variant of the coronavirus, which has caused problems. The report says the center is being asked to process 70,000 tests a day, but is currently processing about 50,000.
A worker who requested anonymity told the news site that: “The rules set to keep employees safe were being broken in order to meet the targets.” The government denied this suggestion when questioned by Sky News.
The Milton Keynes laboratory outbreak comes amid an increase in the number of viruses in the United Kingdom, which is believed to be the epicenter of a new variant of the coronavirus that scientists believe is significantly easier to transmit from person to person.
The outbreak has led to stricter restrictions across the UK and for travelers trying to travel abroad, including a short-lived closure of the UK-France border, which has caused days of chaos.
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