A drive-through coronavirus testing station for NHS workers could be set up near Manchester Airport, the M.E.N. understands.

Currently the government is ‘scaling up’ the national effort around testing for the virus, its approach to which has received widespread criticism.

At this afternoon’s Downing Street press conference officials announced plans for five initial drive-through testing centres, focused initially on the NHS frontline.

While their locations were not announced, it understood one of those being actively looked at is a car park owned by Manchester Airport, proposed partly due to its good transport connections.

That could be similar to one already announced by pharmacy giant Boots in Nottingham earlier this week

Insiders suggested it would initially test the most critical NHS staff if it gets the go-ahead, focusing on ICU nurses and other workers needed for the frontline battle against the virus.

Government has faced repeated criticism for the slow pace of key worker testing, highlighted again today at the Greater Manchester mayor’s weekly press conference on the pandemic.

Andy Burnham repeatedly stressed that the research and development sector in the region - which is known for health innovation - was ready to support the national effort and said a testing site was needed in the region.

“Testing is central to this situation,” he said of rising case numbers, but also growing public sector absence as a result of people having to self isolate without knowing for sure whether they have the virus.

Currently between 15pc and 20pc of the public sector workforce is unable to work, many of them because they have a partner self isolating and are unable to be sure whether they have the virus themselves. That percentage is even higher in parts of Greater Manchester Police.

“Greater Manchester stands ready to help in a national effort to get testing capacity up to the level required,” added the mayor.

“I’ve spoken with Dame Nancy Rothwell, vice chancellor of Manchester University, and she's talking to other universities on this.

“Together with the NHS, which is very much aligned with our universities, we are doing all we can to mobilise staff, laboratory space and chemical reagents to support the national testing effort.

“That offer goes out from Greater Manchester to the government, we stand ready to help in any way we can.”

Yvonne Doyle, PHE medical director, at today's Downing Street press conference

Manchester council leader Sir Richard Leese, who leads on health for the region, also said current testing efforts are ‘nowhere near enough’.

Multiple insiders also said firms and laboratories in the region were more than willing to develop and carry out tests.

Government says it has already launched a partnership with universities, research institutes and companies to roll out a new network across the country, aimed at providing thousands of tests a day for key workers, beginning with the NHS.

It intends to reach 25,000 tests a day, although that now appears to be getting rolled out in phases.

At the Downing Street press conference today the government was once again grilled on its testing regime, which is a fraction of that carried out in some other countries, including Germany.

Prof Yvonne Doyle, medical director at Public Health England, insisted testing is being scaled up - adding that NHS chief executives were now identifying the workers who would be top priority for the scheme.

"The intention is to get from thousands to hundreds of thousands of tests in the coming weeks," she added.