Prime Minister makes visit to Wiltshire's Porton Down

It comes after the Queen and Prince William were in the area on the 15th October

Author: Jack DeeryPublished 27th Nov 2020
Last updated 27th Nov 2020

Boris Johnson has visited Public Health England's lab in Porton Down today (Friday 27th November).

The Prime Minister had been scheduled to come to the Salisbury area on the 16th of November, but had to self-isolate for two weeks after coming into contact with an MP who tested positive for Covid-19.

Mr Johnson visited the labs to see scientists working on Covid-19 testing.

Salisbury MP, John Glen, said:

"Brilliant to have the Prime Minister in South Wiltshire this morning to visit PHE Porton Down and see the outstanding work being done by local scientists on COVID-19 testing."

It's almost a year ago since Mr Johnson made his last visit to the area, when he took a look around the Christmas Market in Salisbury at the start of December 2019.

Mr Johnson in Salisbury last December

In October, Public Health England was given in £19.7m in funding to help Porton Down's scientists develop a Covid-19 vaccine.

It was to help scientists enable them to increase testing capacity, including evaluating individuals’ immune responses as part of the Human Challenge project.

They were also measuring the effectiveness of vaccines currently in development.

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