MORE than 100,000 Wiltshire patients have received their second coronavirus vaccine.

The promising figure comes after a multimillion-pound investment in testing designed to help the UK stay ahead of new variants was unveiled.

Statistics issued by the NHS showed 105,136 second doses have been administered to people in the county, ranging from under 45-years-old to anyone who is 80 and older.

The numbers cover the period from December 8, 2020, up until Sunday, April 25.

The amount of over 80s to be given their second dose of the game-changing jab totalled 28,084, while 21,114 aged 70 to 64 was the second largest group to have the vaccine.

This comes as the Government announced a new investment in testing capacity that will help Britain stay “one step ahead” of the deadly bug and its variants.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock said testing facilities at Porton Down in Wiltshire are to be bolstered to help “future proof” the country, with a cash boost confirmed for the expansion of the laboratories where scientists test existing and new vaccines against variants of concern.

Tests on blood samples can help scientists monitor the effectiveness of the coronavirus vaccines.

The current testing capacity is 700 tests a week, but the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said this will increase to 1,500 by January 2022 – backed with a previous £20 million investment.

The DHSC said a further £29.3 million investment will double the capacity for testing variant samples to 3,000 per week when the work is completed.

The vaccine data also showed the number of patients under 45-years-old who had their second jab was 12,298 - the fourth largest group to have the vaccine in Wiltshire.

The group that was given the fewest number of vaccines at the time was those aged between 45 and 49, which came to 3,612.

However, a cumulative total of 374,148 first and second doses were administered to residents in the county.