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Boris Johnson believes that a massive testing program is “our only hope to avoid a second national lockdown before a vaccine,” according to leaked official documents setting out plans for “Operation Moonshot.”
The prime minister is said to be pinning his hopes on a project that would deliver up to 10 million tests per day, even though the current testing regime is struggling to deliver a fraction of that number and is fraught with problems.
The documents say the “Mass Population Testing Scheme” could cost £ 100bn, the equivalent of the UK’s total education budget.
If delivered, the Moonshot program would have unprecedented scale and, as its name reflects, some officials consider it at the external level of possibility.
Some of the technology it would require does not yet exist.
Details of the moon shooting proposals emerged when Johnson on Wednesday urged people to comply with new restrictions that prohibit gatherings of more than six people indoors and outdoors, saying they were imperative if the country was to avoid a further tightening of the rules.
In a grim assessment of the deteriorating situation, England’s chief medical officer, Professor Chris Whitty, said the recent surge in positive cases was of great concern.
He also admitted that the period “between now and spring is going to be difficult” and said the public should wait for the new measures to be in place for several months, raising fears that they will not be lifted before the new year.
With the testing system already under great pressure and critics accusing the government of incompetence, the prime minister used his press conference to expose the blueprints of the Moonshot plan, which he claimed would allow people to lead more normal lives.
“There are a number of challenges,” he said. “We need the technology to work. We need to obtain the necessary materials to manufacture so many tests. We need to put in place an efficient distribution network. And we have to overcome the many logistical challenges. “
But he added: “It should be possible to implement these tests on a much larger scale than any country has achieved so far, literally millions of tests processed every day.”
He said the Moonshot program could allow theaters and sports venues to test audience members during the day and allow everyone to test negative, as well as allow workplaces to function more normally.
However, the nuts and bolts of bringing such an ambitious project to fruition in such a short time are evident in two leaked documents: a slideshow dated August and a confidential “UK mass evidence narrative” that was initially leaked on Wednesday to the British Medical Journal.
The documents, seen by The Guardian, describe the Moonshot project as “a top priority for the prime minister, who is bringing No. 10 staff into the project and has pledged to remove any barriers to implementation.”
One of the documents reports that it has requested “a Manhattan Project-type approach to deliver the level of innovation / pacing necessary to make this possible.”
“The Prime Minister has tasked the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care with delivering a Mass Population Testing Program, currently called Operation Moonshot, before the end of the year.
“The prime minister describes this as our only hope of avoiding a second national lockdown before a vaccine, something the country cannot afford. He would also like this to support the opening of the economy and allow the population to return to something closer to normal. “
The leaks confirm that private sector organizations should be encouraged to conduct testing to help their own business and protect their workforce.
“Companies could support our testing strategy by providing ‘door testing’ to enable large-scale ‘high-risk’ events to take place, such as football matches, theater productions, concerts or conferences,” says the strategy. “The costs of travel or leisure activities could include the costs of accessing the tests in advance.”
The saliva swab test has been tested in Southampton and will be piloted in Salford next month. Documents say the program could be extended to Basingstoke, before going across the UK with schools and universities undergoing massive testing.
A list of companies to participate includes G4S, Serco, Boots, Sainsbury’s, AstraZeneca, GSK, and Smith and Nephew. It promises “a huge new operational infrastructure” with tests available in pharmacies, schools and workplaces, as well as in healthcare settings.
The Treasury is said to be modeling the impact of the massive tests on the economy, while Sage’s scientific advisory panel is modeling its impact on R, the measure of the spread of the virus, the documents report.
But the document warns: “Fundamentally, for this test to reduce infection rates, it must lead to a change in behavior: citizens must participate regularly and, if they test positive, they must isolate themselves quickly and reliably.”
The Department of Health and Welfare said it did not comment on the leaked documents, but a spokesperson confirmed the ambition to expand the tests. “This country now has the capacity to test for coronavirus on an unprecedented scale and we are going further by investing £ 500 million in next-generation tests such as saliva tests and rapid response tests that can deliver results in just 20 minutes, “he said.
“We are increasing capacity to 500,000 tests per day by the end of October, and the ability to obtain rapid and immediate results will significantly increase our ability to fight the coronavirus, stop the spread and for our economy to recover.”
The project would increase testing to between 2 million and 4 million tests daily by December. That would allow for mass testing of all households in entire areas or cities with increasing cases of Covid-19, internal documents show. At the end of the year, there will also be weekly exams for all teachers and exams for all visitors from hospitals and residences.
