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BORIS Johnson will hold a press conference at 5 pm today and is expected to update the nation on the latest mass testing programs.
The prime minister will hold a virtual briefing tonight, just days after England entered a second national lockdown.
⚠️ Read our live coronavirus blog for the latest news and updates
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It comes after the government rolled out massive tests to the people of Liverpool last week, offering everyone a swab regardless of whether they showed symptoms or not.
The entire population of the city undergoes regular tests to try to reduce infections in one of the worst affected areas.
Scientists say massive testing could cut the R rate, the number of people each Covid victim infects, by half.
The army has been recruited to conduct door-to-door tests and establish special centers to bring them to as many people as possible.
It came as:
Given that up to 70 percent of people are believed to contract the virus but show no symptoms, massive testing could be a vital tool to help stop the spread and nip the pandemic in the bud.
And if proven to work, the program can also help save the nation’s Christmas by allowing people to see family and friends and know that they are safe.
And last week, the prime minister said it would be rolled out in three more cities in Britain to try to control the virus.
Boris Johnson told ITV News that the program would be taken “very soon” to other areas, which have not yet been specified by Downing Street.
The prime minister said: “What we are doing is really increasing testing.
“We will not only do it in Liverpool, there will be three other cities across the country where we will do it very soon and then as widely as possible.
“The lateral flow test, which is what the people of Liverpool are doing today, is just one part of the arsenal of test equipment.”
He added that the “lamp tests” currently implemented in some medical settings, provided further hope along with an expansion of PCR testing.
Infections in the Northwest are among the highest in the country.
It occurs when the swab capacity has reached 500,000 and millions of pregnancy kits are expected to be implemented nationwide.
However, people in Liverpool said last week that they were forced to mingle in hour-long queues with patients potentially infected with Covid-19.
Angry Britons who participated in the scheme said that asymptomatic and symptomatic people were not segregated while they waited in the testing centers.
Photographer David Colbran, 51, said: “It’s a disaster, we booked an appointment to test people without symptoms, but half of the people who stand in line here have symptoms.
“It’s not until you get to the first person in high visibility that they ask if you have symptoms and you realize you’ve been with people who have symptoms for more than an hour.”
Joanne Topping, 59, a retired consultant, was enraged: “The staff doesn’t seem to know what’s going on.
“Obviously you have to understand that there will be initial problems, but there is no fluency or organization based on whether you are here for Operation Moonshot testing or regular testing because you have symptoms.”
Matt Exley, 32, a museum worker said: “I have left my safe house.
“I had no symptoms and I have been mixing with infected people without even knowing it.”
The pilot plan has involved the opening of 85 test centers in Liverpool as part of Operation Moonshot.
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