Covid-19: Army test centre troops receive Freedom of Liverpool

About 2,000 troops were deployed to Liverpool in November

Army regiments which helped to set up and run a mass coronavirus testing pilot in Liverpool are to be given the Freedom of the City.

The 2,000 troops were deployed to the city in November and have helped carry out 200,000 tests at almost 50 centres.

The city's coronavirus infection rates have since dropped from 680 cases per 100,000 people to fewer than 100.

It enabled the city region to move down from tier three to tier two when the national lockdown ended.

Brigadier Joe Fossey, commander of the 8th Engineer Brigade which led the operation, was presented with a scroll proposing their inclusion in the Freedom Roll of Associations.

He said he was "extremely proud of what we have all achieved in such a short time and how warmly we have been received by all those in the city".

"To receive Liverpool's highest civic honour crowns an extraordinary six weeks for all of us and marks an important moment in the continuing fight against Covid-19," he said.

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The Freedom of the City is the highest civic honour the city can bestow and is in recognition of the military's contribution to the communities of Liverpool.

The decision will be ratified at a council meeting in January and special commemorative coins will be issued to each of the troops involved in the operation as a civic gift from the city at a later date.

Deputy mayor Wendy Simon said: "We owe the British Army troops an incredible debt of gratitude for their work in setting up and staffing testing centres across the city over the last month.

"We have had so many compliments about their patience, helpfulness and professionalism in supporting people through the process of having a test."

The remaining testing centres in Liverpool have now been handed over to private contractors to run.

Freedom of the City of Liverpool

King Kenny was given the Freedom of Liverpool in 2016

The freedom of the city is a symoblic award by a local authority showing civic pride.

Other recipients of the Freedom of the City of Liverpool include:

• 1892 - William Gladstone - four-time prime minister who was born in Liverpool

• 1985 - The Beatles - formed in Liverpool in 1960

• 2001 - Ken Dodd - comedian and entertainer from Knotty Ash

• 2009 - Gerry Marsden - musician and singer with Merseybeat band Gerry and the Pacemakers

• 2014 - Ricky Tomlinson - actor and activist

• 2016 - Kenny Dalglish - former Liverpool FC player and manager