FACTORY workers in Covid hotspots will get regular ‘Moonshot’ tests first as part of a fresh crackdown on the killer bug.
Brits in high-risk jobs will be prioritised in the next big roll-out of the testing blitz, Trending In The News can reveal.
While the next Tier 3 cities in line for the mass swabs will also be announced within days.
Boris Johnson has credited mass testing with helping to kick Covid into reverse in Liverpool.
He has promised to deploy the military to roll the programme out to other Tier 3 cities.
But there are not enough tests or troops to carry out a Liverpool-style city-wide blitz across all of the Tier 3 areas.
Instead health chiefs are set to concentrate their efforts by swabbing at risk groups like factory workers.
Particular areas within cities with sky-high infection rates will also be front of the queue for the 15-minute swabs.
The plans are set to be announced in the coming days.
A Whitehall insider told Trending In The News: “There will be a mix. So there will be some city-wide programmes.
“But there will also be some projects working with particular areas in cities, or people in particular at-risk jobs.”
There have been a string of devastating Covid outbreaks in Britain’s factories.
The killer bug flourishes in the cold and cramped conditions found in meat manufacturing plants.
