Greater Manchester ‘stands ready’ to help ramp up testing for coronavirus in public services across the country, says mayor Andy Burnham.
Staff, laboratories and chemical reagents from the region’s universities are being offered to provide the necessary components and expertise needed to create testing kits.
NHS workers at four regional hospitals are undergoing diagnostic testing at home but an antibody test - which can tell if someone has been infected - is ‘still several weeks away’.
Absence rates across the public sector are up to 20pc as more workers self-isolate or show symptoms of COVID-19 - and it is likely to get worse.