Posties are set to step into the Covid front line to deliver doorstep virus test kits.
Under a new Royal Mail plan they would drop off and collect kits to help meet the Operation Moonshot target of 500,000 swabs a day.
Bosses believe the postal network could deliver 200,000 tests a day, boosting the test and trace scheme.
Royal Mail is bidding against rivals like Amazon for an £800million, two-year government contract that officials hope will start early next year.
Postal deliveries would be combined with a shift to local authority contact tracing.
Recent tests on performance by council officials show a success rate of 97.7 per cent in tracing people suspected of being in contact with a Covid carrier.
The struggling Royal Mail recently announced a major investment in automating parcel deliveries in a belated attempt to compete with companies like Amazon and DHL.
Keith Williams, Royal Mail chairman, said: “Operation Moonshot is an opportunity for Royal Mail to show what we can do after the rapid change in the postal market.” The move is backed by the Communication Workers Union.
Dave Ward, general secretary, said its members have “kept the country connected” in the pandemic.
But the CWU warned Royal Mail’s new Parcel Collect service could lead to mass closure of post offices.
Posties can pick up parcels on their daily rounds with households charged 72p per packet on top of postal costs.
The CWU said it “will take vital work away from the Post Office”.
