Second laboratory opens to speed up bluetongue testing

A second laboratory is being opened for bluetongue testing amid a growing backlog of tests that is slowing the pace of disease surveillance.

The Animal and Plant Health Agency (Apha) said additional facilities at its Weybridge headquarters in Surrey would speed up the process of providing test results, but officials did not immediately respond to questions about how many additional tests a day it could deliver.

Further testing capacity at the Moredun Research Institute in Midlothian is expected to be available from early October, Scottish government officials said this week.

Mounting delays for test results have led to concerns that the government is losing the ability to accurately track the spread and severity of bluetongue, as well as maintain vigilance for other diseases.

See also: Bluetongue test backlog raises disease surveillance fears

Cases under investigation, effectively farms awaiting blood test results, rose by 245 to 2,459 between 19 August and 24 August, with The Pirbright Institute in Surrey handling tests for the whole of the UK until now.

As of 24 August, official government figures show 618 premises had been confirmed with BTV-3 during the 2026-27 season – 580 in England, 29 in Wales and nine in Scotland.

Apha said that samples should continue to be submitted to The Pirbright Institute, and results of bluetongue samples tested will continue to be reported in the same way.

Livestock keepers should continue to report any suspicion of other exotic notifiable diseases to Apha, with both laboratories retaining testing capacity to investigate samples for other issues, it said

Weybridge, the headquarters of the Apha, is in the early stages of a renovation after being dogged by criticism for years about the dwindling quality of its facilities, which include 98% of the agency’s high-containment laboratories.

Defra’s own annual report for this year, submitted to Parliament, said “the condition of the site continues to deteriorate more quickly than can be maintained, resulting in increasing frequency of infrastructure failures.”

Groundworks are under way as part of the creation of a new National Biosecurity Centre, which the government said will help stop diseases such as foot-and-mouth disease and bluetongue damaging the UK.

Interim facilities will open next year ahead of the main construction work to build new science hubs, including specialised biocontainment science facilities, with the project scheduled to finish in 2034.