Windsor's Coldstream Guards from Victoria Barracks are playing a major role in a ground breaking pilot to test for Covid 19 - which is breaking the spread of the virus.

The tests are being carried out on people without any symptoms in Liverpool and the Guards are among those on the ground supporting the city council by planning, building test centres and carrying out the tests.

Around a quarter of the city’s population has been tested during the first two weeks of the trial with the army working within community hubs.

Lateral flow tests have enabled results to be sent electronically to those attending in around half an hour. The military is also training those who will continue providing tests on a smaller, more targeted scale after the pilot ends.

So far thanks to the tests around 700 people have been identified as unknowingly carrying the disease and were then able to self-isolate. With the infection rate in Liverpool typically three people affected for every one carrier, this has prevented the disease spreading.

Everyone in the city of Liverpool is being asked to get tested, with specific emphasis on requesting health and care workers, other emergency services and key workers, school staff and pupils, university staff and students to come forward.

The scheme has blazed a trail towards mass testing being rolled out more widely across the UK, beginning with Merthyr Tydfil last week.