Calls for asymptomatic testing for keyworkers 'a priority' says Ashfield council leader

Jason Zadrozny, leader of Ashfield District Council, said he had made the case to the county’s director of public health Jonathan Gribbin.

He is now calling for keyworkers to be tested as a “priority.”

He said: “I’m meeting with Nottinghamshire’s seven council leaders to discuss asymptomatic testing.

"We have made a clear case to the county’s director of public health that we would want key workers like NHS staff, care home staff, teaching staff and others to be tested as a priority. It’s critical we keep our county moving.

"Yet again, we’ve received scant information other than a meeting with a health minister and a press release. The minister simply couldn’t answer when asymptomatic testing will commence or what extra resources we will receive.

"In Liverpool, they bussed in 2000 members of armed forces to carry out the testing. Will they be doing that in Ashfield, Mansfield and Nottinghamshire?”