UK carries out second national Emergency Alerts test

Millions of mobile phones across the United Kingdom sounded a distinctive siren at about 3pm on Sunday as the government carried out the second national test of its Emergency Alerts system. Devices connected to 4G and 5G networks vibrated, emitted an alarm for up to 10 seconds and displayed a message making clear the notification was a drill, officials said.

The test, scheduled and run by emergency planners in the Cabinet Office Briefing Rooms unit, was intended to check that the system works when lives are at stake and to assess performance with mobile network operators afterwards, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Pat McFadden said. He compared the exercise to routine fire drills and said the test helps ensure the system is ready 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer posted on X that tens of millions of phones successfully sounded during the exercise and called it an important step in keeping people safe during national emergencies.

The Emergency Alerts service is designed to send urgent warnings to people at risk, and has been used in real incidents on five occasions, officials said. The government reported that 4.5 million people in Scotland and...