UK conducts test of its national emergency alert system

By Aysu Bicer

LONDON (AA) - The UK government conducted a test of its new national emergency alert system on Sunday.

The test aimed to assess the effectiveness of the system in alerting the public to emergencies such as natural disasters, terror attacks, and pandemics.

The message appeared on the screens of mobile phones and tablets at 3 p.m. local time (1400GMT) along with a loud siren-like sound or vibration that lasted for about 10 seconds.

The government has emphasized that this new system is crucial for ensuring public safety during life-threatening emergencies.

During the early stages of the pandemic, the UK government struggled to effectively communicate the national lockdown measures to the public.

As a solution, they decided to send a mass text message to all UK phone numbers. However, this overwhelmed the text messaging infrastructure and caused delays of up to two days in delivering the messages, leading to negative media coverage.

This incident prompted the government to revive plans for a national alert system that had been previously abandoned.