On the 19th March, the Cabinet Office launched a new system that will give the government and emergency services the capability to send an alert directly to mobile phones when there is a risk to life. The Emergency Alerts system will allow the government to get urgent messages quickly to nearly 90 percent of mobile phones in a defined area. The system is now ready to be tested across the country following successful tests in East Suffolk and Reading. The alerts will only ever come from the government or emergency services, and they will issue a warning, the details of the area impacted, and instructions about how best to respond. A UK-wide alerts test will take place in the early evening of 23 April which will see people receive a test message on their mobile phones. For more details look out for the nationwide information campaign, visit gov.uk/alerts
