UK set to award Covid-19 testing contracts worth £5bn to private bidders
by Juliette Garside from on (#55A3S)
Advert says contracts will support UK testing strategy but critics fear move is backdoor' subsidy
The government is preparing to award coronavirus testing contracts worth an estimated 5bn to commercial bidders, in what critics fear is a backdoor" subsidy to the private sector.
The vast new budget, which works out at 2.5bn per year and will be managed by Public Health England (PHE), is equal to the entire annual spend on English NHS laboratories.
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