Beautiful Virgin Islands

Monday, Sep 01, 2025

Scientist donates £1,000,000 to massively increase UK coronavirus testing

A British entrepreneur has donated £1,000,000 of his own money to establish a network of labs that could dramatically increase coronavirus testing.
Mike Fischer CBE has launched the Covid-19 Volunteer Testing Network, which aims to use common pieces of equipment found in thousands of labs across the UK to test for the illness.

The Oxford University physics graduate currently runs a small non-profit medical research lab in Abingdon, Oxford called Systems Biology Laboratory (SBL) which tests more than 200 NHS workers at 18 surgeries in Oxfordshire twice a week.

Mr Fischer says his next landmark is to recruit 200 laboratories to each conduct an average of 100 tests a day – but this can be ramped up to 500 each every 24 hours when staff have perfected the testing process.

His ultimate goal is to get 1,000 labs doing 800 tests within a few months – which would mean 800,000 people a day would be checked for the virus.

The labs would use equipment like the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) machine, which is found in most university science departments, to test if people currently have the virus.

It is estimated there could be as many as 14,000 PCR machines in operation in private and institutional labs in the UK.

Mr Fischer has appealed for laboratories that have PCR machines to join his project in order to conquer the pandemic.

He told BBC Radio 5 Live: ‘Our aspirational goal… is that if we can get to 1,000 labs doing 800 tests per day within a few months, that will provide 800,000 tests per day. That capacity will help enormously in mass population testing.

‘So this is a call to arms – if you have the equipment and experience then you can do this. You are worth your weight in gold.

‘We need everyone who has got the experience and equipment and the facilities to start doing it.’

Another doctor has suggested that everyone in Britain could be tested once a week if every PCR machine in the country was used.

Professor Julian Peto, a cancer epidemiologist at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and a supporter of the project, told Sky News: ‘These PCR machines are in every university and commercial lab in Britain so I’m sure you’ve got 14,000 of them.

‘If the people who are already operating those machines turned over to testing to the virus, you’d be able to test everyone in Britain once a week, and you’d be able to test every other day people who come into contact with patients – nurses, doctors, the NHS in particular.’

Mr Fischer added: ‘These machines, which typically cost less than £1,000, are common across testing labs. Every biology department in a university will have dozens.

‘All you need is a PCR machine, a level two or higher containment facility and two or three people who know what they are doing.’
Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
Chinese and Indian Leaders Pursue Amity Amid Global Shifts
European Union Plans for Ukraine Deployment
ECB Warns Against Inflation Complacency
Concerns Over North Cyprus Casino Development
Shipping Companies Look Beyond Chinese Finance
Rural Exodus Fueling European Wildfires
China Hosts Major Security Meeting
Chinese Police Successfully Recover Family's Savings from Livestream Purchases
Germany Marks a Decade Since Migrant Wave with Divisions, Success Stories, and Political Shifts
Liverpool Defeat Arsenal 1–0 with Szoboszlai Free-Kick to Stay Top of Premier League
Prince Harry and King Charles to Meet in First Reunion After 20 Months
Chinese Stock Market Rally Fueled by Domestic Investors
Israeli Airstrike in Yemen Kills Houthi Prime Minister
Ukrainian Nationalist Politician Andriy Parubiy Assassinated in Lviv
Corporate America Cuts Middle Management as Bosses Take On Triple the Workload
Parents Sue OpenAI After Teen’s Death, Alleging ChatGPT Encouraged Suicide
Amazon Faces Lawsuit Over 'Buy' Label on Digital Streaming Content
Federal Reserve Independence Questioned Amid Trump’s Push to Reshape Central Bank
British Politics Faces Tumultuous Autumn After Summer of Rebellions and Rising Farage Momentum
US Appeals Court Rules Against Most Trump-Era Tariffs
UK Sought Broad Access to Apple Users’ Data, Court Filing Reveals
UK Bank Shares Dive Over Potential Tax on Sector
Germany’s Auto Industry Sheds 51,500 Jobs in First Half of 2025 Amid Deepening Crisis
Bruce Willis Relocated Due to Advanced Dementia
French and Korean Nuclear Majors Clash As EU Launches Foreign Subsidy Probe
EU Stands Firm on Digital Rules as Trump Warns of Retaliation
Getting Ready for the 3rd Time in Its History, Germany Approves Voluntary Military Service for Teenagers
Argentine President Javier Milei Evacuated After Stones Thrown During Campaign Event
Denmark Confronts U.S. Diplomat Over Covert Trump-Linked Influence in Greenland
Starmer Should Back Away from ECHR, Says Jack Straw
Trump Demands RICO Charges Against George Soros and Son for Funding Violent Protests
Taylor Swift Announces Engagement to NFL Star Travis Kelce
France May Need IMF Bailout, Warns Finance Minister
Chinese AI Chipmaker Cambricon Posts Record Profit as Beijing Pushes Pivot from Nvidia
After the Shock of Defeat, Iranians Yearn for Change
Ukraine Finally Allows Young Men Aged Eighteen to Twenty-Two to Leave the Country
The Porn Remains, Privacy Disappears: How Britain Broke the Internet in Ten Days
YouTube Altered Content by Artificial Intelligence – Without Permission
Welcome to The Definition of Insanity: Germany Edition
Just a reminder, this is Michael Jackson's daughter, Paris.
Spotify’s Strange Move: The Feature Nobody Asked For – Returns
Manhunt in Australia: Armed Anti-Government Suspect Kills Police Officers Sent to Arrest Him
China Launches World’s Most Powerful Neutrino Detector
How Beijing-Linked Networks Shape Elections in New York City
Ukrainian Refugee Iryna Zarutska Fled War To US, Stabbed To Death
Elon Musk Sues Apple and OpenAI Over Alleged App Store Monopoly
2 Australian Police Shot Dead In Encounter In Rural Victoria State
Vietnam Evacuates Hundreds of Thousands as Typhoon Kajiki Strikes; China’s Sanya Shuts Down
UK Government Delays Decision on China’s Proposed London Embassy Amid Concerns Over Redacted Plans
A 150-Year Tradition to Be Abolished? Uproar Over the Popular Central Park Attraction
×