The Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said that Milton Keynes has an "illustrious role to play" in fighting coronavirus as part of a visit to our city earlier today.
Mr Johnson visited the coronavirus Lighthouse Lab in Milton Keynes - and revealed it has now processed one million coronavirus tests.
Speaking at the lab, Mr Johnson said: "I'm here in Milton Keynes at the UK Biocentre which is absolutely integral in our fightback against coronavirus."
"They've done a million tests so far. They are now doing 30,000 tests a day - quite astonishing performance here at the Biocentre in Milton Keynes."
"And don't forget Milton Keynes was at the very beginning of the fight against coronavirus because it was here we had the first quarantine centre as well."
"Milton Keynes has an illustrious role to play in the fight against this plague and is helping the whole country to beat the virus - and we will."
The Prime Minister was referring to the quarantine centre which was set up at Kents Hill Park back at the start of February to house people returning from the Chinese area of Wuhan for 14 days.
Meanwhile, the Milton Keynes Lighthouse Lab opened at the start of April, which the Health Secretary described as being part of the 'biggest diagnostic lab network in British history'.
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Since the opening, two further Lighthouse Labs have opened in Alderley Park and Glasgow.
According to ITV, each day, swabs arrive at the centre at around 6am.
Every swab that arrives is from an individual who has a suspected case of coronavirus.
Swab tests can now be taken at drive-through test centres throughout the country, including one in Central Milton Keynes, which are open appointment-only for key workers and their household members who show symptoms.
Then, once the tests arrive at the centre, volunteers and staff manually record, check, and sort the swab kits before they go to the lab for processing.
