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All areas placed under level 3 restrictions when England’s national lockdown ends next month will receive military support to provide rapid testing for Covid in the community, Boris Johnson agrees to commit.
The announcement comes after a trial in Liverpool, where infections spiked ahead of nationwide restrictions, earlier this month. Local leaders have suggested that the program has helped identify hundreds of asymptomatic cases.
Using rapid lateral flow tests, which produce results in 30 minutes, the city’s testing regimen has seen more than 200,000 people tested and contributed to a “substantial drop” in coronavirus cases, No. 10 said.
Addressing MPs on Monday, the prime minister will outline a return to a stricter version of the tiered regional approach to controlling the virus when national restrictions are lifted in just under fifteen days.
It will say that local authority leaders placed at Level 3, the most severe level of measures, will be able to use testing and tracing and the military to help administer extensive community testing.
An additional £ 7bn will also be provided for test and trace services, bringing total spending this year from £ 12bn to £ 22bn.
The government added that the retest will also be tested in Liverpool so that contacts of people who test positive do not have to self-isolate for a period of 14 days, as long as they are not found to be infected themselves.
Suggested Downing Street contacts will be offered the opportunity to be tested every day for a week and will not need to be quarantined unless they test positive for Covid-19. The trial, which kicks off in Liverpool on Monday, will roll out across the NHS and nursing homes in December if successful before rolling out across the country in the new year.
Additional testing will also be offered to all staff working in food manufacturing, prisons and the vaccine program on a weekly basis starting next month.
Speaking on Monday, the prime minister will say: “The altruism of the people in following the rules is making a difference. The virus is not spreading as fast as it would if we did not wash our hands, maintain social distance, wear masks, etc.
“And in England, where national measures went into effect earlier this month, the increase in new cases is stabilizing.”
“But we have not yet come out of danger,” he will add. “The virus is still present in communities across the country and is still far more infectious and far more deadly than seasonal flu.
“But with the expansion of testing and vaccines approaching implementation, the regional tiered system will help bring the virus back under control and keep it there.”
It is not yet known which areas are earmarked for level 3, and ministers are preparing to outline that on Thursday.
But Downing Street has said that a greater number of areas are expected to enter the higher levels to preserve the gains against Covid-19 achieved during the shutdown.
