‘Emergency alert’ to be sent to UK phones as government tests alarm warning system

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An emergency alert will sound an alarm on people’s mobile phones as the government tests the warning system later this year.

In line with recommendations from the Covid inquiry, ministers will test the Emergency Alert System set up in the wake of the pandemic, causing a siren to sound on millions of mobile phones across the UK.

The alarm will sound for up to 10 seconds on all 4G and 5G mobile phones, totalling as many as 87 million devices, The Mirror reported.

The alert will also display a notification which will have to be acknowledged before people can use other features on their device.

The move was announced in the Commons by Cabinet Office minister Pat McFadden as he revealed that senior government officials will hold national pandemic preparedness drills later this year.

Mr McFadden told MPs: “Since July, we have also sent two emergency alerts to provide advice to the public in life threatening situations during Storm Darragh, for example, because of a very rare red danger to life warning, the alert was sent to over 3 million people in affected regions.

“And more recently, we issued a very localised warning over flooding danger.

“The government will carry out a full national test of the Emergency Alert System later this year. This will ensure that the system is functioning correctly, should it need to be deployed in an emergency.”

Noting that the full national pandemic response exercise due later this year “will be the first of its kind in nearly a decade”, the Labour minister added: “It will test the UK’s capabilities, our plans, protocols and procedures in the event of another major pandemic.”

Emergency Alerts enable officials to broadcast urgent messages to a defined area when there is an imminent risk to life, such as during wildfires or severe flooding.

Alert systems have also been used successfully in a number of other countries, including the US, Canada, the Netherlands and Japan, during incidents such as severe weather events.

During previous tests of the system in the UK, the government said it had worked together with the emergency services and partners, including the Football Association and London Marathon, to make sure the national test had a minimum impact on major events taking place at the time.

Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Pat McFadden told The Mirror: “Most countries that have this system test it quite regularly and so we don’t want it just to be once years ago and then everybody forgets it exists. This should be part of our armoury in warning people about major risks.”