Major UK testing lab in Milton Keynes suffers coronavirus outbreak

Positive cases have been reported in three of the four scientific teams at the Milton Keynes Lighthouse Laboratory, as well as among administrative and warehouse staff at the site.

According to reports from Sky News, a worker at the site claims COVID safety rules have been breached.

It is not known how many people have been affected by the outbreak. But Sky News claims around 20 people in one 70-person lab team are currently isolating.

The MK lab was hailed as "crucial" in the UK's fight to beat Covid-19 by health secretary Matt Hancock back in April - read the full story here.

The MK Lighthouse Laboratory has been asked to process 70,000 tests per day in order to keep up with demand.

But Sky News says its source claims the outbreak will almost half their output.

Sky says the lab worker raised concerns about the safety of the lab, saying that rules put in place to keep staff safe were being broken in order to meet targets.

But the same reports says the Department of Health and Social Care has denied the claims.

A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Care told Sky News it was aware of the outbreak at the Lighthouse Laboratory, but insisted all government guidelines on COVID-secure work procedures had been followed.

In the 24 hours up to Tuesday December 22nd 364 more people in Milton Keynes tested positive for coronavirus, making a total of 7,425 since the start of the pandemic.

There were no new deaths recorded in Milton Keynes. But the total number of deaths since the Covid crisis began is now 245 (total number of deaths since the start of the pandemic of people whose death certificate mentioned COVID-19 as one of the causes).