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British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will announce a major testing program in areas with the highest rates of coronavirus infection as England re-enters a system of tiered restrictions.
Jonnson is ready to announce in parliament that regions classified as very high risk will be able to bring in the military to help with mass testing as part of the government’s Covid Winter Plan.
This comes after the first English city-wide tests were conducted in Liverpool this month, which the government hailed as a success that led to a “substantial drop” in cases.
The city is now set to test a new testing system in which the contacts of those who have tested positive can take a test every day for a week and only have to isolate themselves if they test positive, rather than immediately quarantined.
If successful, this system could be used throughout England in nursing homes and by the entire population starting in January, Downing Street said.
He said the new measures will also target nursing home residents, who are unable to receive visitors indoors due to social distancing rules.
He said a pilot program to screen visitors at 20 nursing homes could be rolled out across the country next month, allowing residents to have physical contact with visitors.
England will return to a system of tiered restrictions against the coronavirus after the last lockdown ends on December 2.
Downing Street has said they will be similar to the system in place before the shutdown, but more restrictive in some areas.
The UK has seen more than 55,000 deaths out of some 1.5 million cases, one of the worst rates in the world, and has been struggling to control a second surge in infections.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock told BBC radio that “the upper level will have to be tougher than the previous upper level.”
“We need to make sure we reduce the virus, not just flatten it,” he said.
Johnson, under pressure from the economic impact of the outbreak, must also announce how the rules for Christmas will be relaxed to allow for family reunions.
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It comes after British drug group AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford said they would seek approval for their jointly developed vaccine against Covid-19.
“We can see with some confidence that this is about getting through this winter and getting the vaccine program in place,” Hancock said of the latest measures.
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