|
 Prime Minister Boris Johnson promised a "world-beating" national
test-and-trace system earlier this year, whereby people with
symptoms get tested and the contacts of positive cases are asked to
self-isolate. But the scheme has disappointed and the government's
scientific advisory body said last month its impact on virus
transmission was marginal.
The United Kingdom has the highest COVID-19 death toll in Europe,
and a second national lockdown is due to come into force in England
on Thursday, but the government has cited the prospect of regular
mass-testing, which can pick up asymptomatic cases, by the spring as
a reason for optimism.
"It is early days, but this kind of mass testing has the potential
to be a powerful new weapon in our fight against COVID-19," Prime
Minister Boris Johnson said in a statement.
The government said the Liverpool pilot would start on Friday using
PCR swab tests, the default testing method to date, as well as new
lateral flow tests and so-called LAMP tests, aimed at delivering
faster results without the need for laboratory processing.
Everyone living or working in the city, one of the worst-hit in the
country, will be offered repeat tests at existing sites as well as
numerous new sites including care homes, schools, universities and
workplaces.
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Johnson said that dependent on the pilot's success, millions of the new rapid
tests could be distributed elsewhere in the country before Christmas to help
local authorities drive down transmission in their areas.
Many countries are exploring the role mass testing can play in containing the
virus. Over the weekend, two-thirds of the Slovakian population were tested
under such a scheme.
However, the head of the World Health Organization's (WHO) emergencies programme,
Mike Ryan, has said that broad population testing is costly and unrealistic even
if some testing of asymptomatic people can be helpful.
"Some caution is needed to qualify headlines that mass testing will somehow
transform the situation we are now in," said Alexander Edwards, Associate
Professor in Biomedical Technology at the University of Reading.
"Any testing programme can only be helpful in reducing health and economic
impact of COVID-19 if it fits into a larger, coherent and effective strategy to
slow transmission."
(Reporting by Estelle Shirbon and Alistair Smout; Editing by Hugh Lawson and
Nick Macfie)
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