South Yorkshire mayor Dan Jarvis: 'Call in the military to manage testing crisis'

The mayor – a former Paratrooper who served in Kosovo, Sierra Leone, Northern Ireland, Iraq and Afghanistan – said the county is facing a potential local lockdown as positive cases of the virus continue to rise.

Latest figures show Sheffield has 84 cases per 100,000, Rotherham 83, Barnsley 47 and Doncaster 46.

The mayor warned that if the problems with Test and Trace system are not solved soon, more lives, jobs and businesses will be ‘put at risk’.

His call comes as 60,000 students arrive in Sheffield, at a time when coronavirus cases are already rising quickly in the region. It is feared that an increase in population, teamed with an inefficient test and trace system, could see cases rise to a point where a local lockdown is introduced in South Yorkshire, the mayor added.

In a letter to the Health Secretary Matt Hancock, Mayor Jarvis, called for ‘decisive action’ from the Government to stem a rapid rise in cases in the region, including bringing in the military to fix the current testing crisis.

The Military has already been involved in testing in Birmingham and supports civilian efforts in areas where there is a high number of cases.

Military personnel in the city have run a ‘drop and collect service, which provides test kits to people who can’t leave their homes or find it difficult to get a test in their area.

The mayor also urged the Government to unlock laboratory testing capacity to increase the number of tests that can be processed; integrate testing to enable a joined-up approach to testing; urgently introduce priority access to testing for key workers and provide clearer public messaging on isolation if it is not possible to get a test.

In the letter, Mayor Jarvis said: “Now is the moment to act decisively, before we see more lives, jobs and businesses across South Yorkshire put at risk.

“For this reason, I would strongly urge you to immediately utilise the excellent, strategic capabilities within our Armed Forces to help manage the current crisis regarding testing.

“Their logistical expertise exemplified by the rate at which they established the Nightingale Hospitals would be of great use now, as it was then.

“The country must draw upon every resource at its disposal if we are to manage the risk posed by Covid-19 in the days, weeks and months ahead.”