Published:
7:00 AM January 11, 2021
L-R: James Wayland, Jonathan Allard and Joshua Button from LDE UTC designed and manufactured 300 of the vital racks.
- Credit: LDE UTC
A potential threat to rapid Covid-19 testing in Newham has been overcome thanks to the town hall, a technical college and test tube racks.
Newham public health teams had found themselves frustrated by an inability to source and acquire racks which are vital in testing centres.
Anything hindering the delivery of rapid testing affects efforts to get on top of infection rates.
But a conversation between the principal of London Design and Engineering University Technical College (LDE UTC) in University Way, Royal Docks, and a town hall public health officer led to an amazing solution.
Last modified on Tue 15 Dec 2020 04.15 EST
The sharp increase of coronavirus cases in the east London borough of Newham, which recorded the worst mortality rate in England and Wales in May, has left residents with a terrible sense of deja vu.
Cases were levelling off before England went into national lockdown and the council had hoped they would soon start to fall, but there was a sharp rise instead. The borough recorded 307 cases per 100,000 people for the most recent week of complete data.
“It makes me want to cry,” said 72-year-old Viv Archer, manager of Newham Bookshop, who was particularly frustrated by residents not wearing masks and socially distancing. “I just think people don’t think they’re affected.”