400 jobs created as delayed Covid-19 testing lab opens

Some 400 jobs have been created after a new Covid-19 testing lab opened on Monday at the former Astra Zeneca campus in Charnwood.

The Charnwood lab, which was initially intended to open at the end of September, follows on from the opening of the Newport, South Wales Lab in October in a collaboration between international manufacturer PerkinElmer and the UK Government’s Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) in support of the Test and Trace strategy.

By early 2021, the team will be testing up to 50,000 samples daily. In September, this had been a figure that was mooted for the end of the year.

PerkinElmer’s managing director for UK & Ireland, Miles Burrows, said: “PerkinElmer’s ability to draw on expertise from our operations across the globe has enabled us to rapidly build a facility that will apply our best-in-class technologies to efficiently test individuals and identify those carrying the virus. In addition to assisting the DHSC to ramp up the nation’s testing capacity, this lab has created hundreds of new jobs locally. This has allowed us to develop and deploy a team who are ready to play such an essential role in managing this pandemic.”

Gosia Khrais, the director for Charnwood Campus, said: “I would like to welcome Department of Health and Social Care and PerkinElmer as new occupiers on the site. The addition of the DHSC and PerkinElmer to the stronghold of science-driven organizations here is fantastic news for Charnwood and our local economy. It would not have happened without an effort of a number of stakeholders, our local Council and MP, as well as of the committed design and construction team that delivered this fast-paced project on time.”

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