Bedford company chosen to make 'instant' Covid tests

Global Access Diagnostics is one of three companies chosen by the Department of Health to produce rapid Covid-19 tests.

It will join Omega Diagnostics and SureScreen.

Global Access Diagnostics is a high-volume manufacturing enterprise in Thurleigh and currently has 70 employees.

However, it is planning to rapidly boost that figure by 210 by April, having received close to £1million in funding from the Government and about £10million in equipment.

Omega CEO Colin King said in a statement: “We are delighted to formalise our relationship with the UK government, and to utilise our lateral flow test production capacity to support the Covid-19 mass testing programme being rolled out across the country.”

Until now, the UK has been almost entirely reliant on limited Covid-19 testing supplies from the US and China.

It has spent at least £1.5billion on the tests – the bulk of which has gone to US company Innova, which has received £1billion in contracts to procure hundreds of millions of devices which are manufactured in China.