Coronavirus: Newport 'Lighthouse Lab' operational in August

A new "Lighthouse Lab" will be established in Newport to increase the UK's Covid-19 testing capacity.

The facility at Imperial Park is expected to be operational by the end of August and will test samples from across Wales and England.

It will be the fifth major testing lab set up in the UK following sites in Milton Keynes, Alderley Park in Cheshire, Cambridge and Glasgow.

Health Minister Vaughan Gething said it would help prepare for any second peak.

The site was already earmarked for a £5m Public Health Wales laboratory which will be used by NHS Wales when no longer required for coronavirus testing.

Mr Gething said: "We are making increasing use of the UK-wide testing system and the Lighthouse Lab network.

"This will support our test, trace, protect strategy by helping us get the testing capacity and turnaround times we need, and to be ready for the autumn.

"It also provides another jobs boost to Wales' growing life sciences sector."

Scientists believe these "super labs" can transform the way scientists test for the virus and help the UK further ease out of lockdown.

The World Health Organisation has said the key to combating the coronavirus epidemic is to "test, test, test".

However, the Welsh Government has said it is working to improve turnaround times after data showed less than a third of test results from community testing units (CTUs) came back within 24 hours.

The Royal College of Nursing said the data suggested CTUs - mostly used by healthcare staff - produced results slower than those from hospitals or regional testing centres.

Experts have told ministers that contact tracing schemes "perceived to be most successful" required test results within 24 hours.