Faced with the highest number of coronavirus deaths in Europe, the U.K. plans to pilot a test program for every resident of Liverpool, in northwestern England.
As England prepares for a second lockdown starting Thursday, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced a mass testing program to begin later this week on Liverpool's entire 500,000 residents, symptomatic or no. Liverpool's infection rate is among the highest in England.
The idea is to test everyone regularly, isolate those who test positive, and theoretically be rid of the virus in weeks.
The virus has already killed more than 46,000 people across the U.K., according to the Associated Press, and the second wave promises to be worse than the first.
"These tests will help identify the many thousands of people in the city who don't have symptoms but can still infect others without knowing,? Johnson said, according to AP. "Dependent on their success in Liverpool, we will aim to distribute millions of these new rapid tests between now and Christmas and empower local communities to use them to drive down transmission in their areas."
Liverpool Mayor Joe Anderson told BBC Radio 4 that about 30 test units will be placed at strategic points across the city, reported Politico.eu. He said the pilot program is expected to last six to eight weeks.
If the pilot program is successful, Johnson said new, rapid tests could be distributed throughout the country by Christmas, thus potentially saving the holidays, Reuters reported.
However, testing alone won't turn the tide, experts warned.
"Some caution is needed to qualify headlines that mass testing will somehow transform the situation we are now in," Alexander Edwards, Associate Professor in Biomedical Technology at the University of Reading, told Reuters. "Any testing program 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."
