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Three more cities will soon introduce mass testing schemes in a bid to combat the coronavirus, after the city-wide swabbing program was launched in Liverpool earlier this week.
The Prime Minister will announce that more than 100,000 people will be told to get tested in all three cities, including one in the Midlands and one in the south of England.
Boris Johnson has ordered the massive smear in an attempt to identify asymptomatic people, those with the virus who show no symptoms, so they can be isolated and reduce infection rates.
Three more cities will introduce mass testing schemes in a bid to combat the coronavirus, after the city-wide swabbing program of Liverpool (pictured) was launched earlier this week.
The prime minister will announce the plans as early as tomorrow in a bid to ensure that the testing regime is expanded over the next month and would help ensure that the second national lockdown will be lifted on December 2.
About 1,000 soldiers will be deployed to help people conduct tests in the three cities that have yet to be identified.
After the massive scheme was launched in the big city of Liverpool, the government now wants to see how a similar program could work in a smaller or more rural city.
A senior government source told The Times: ‘The point about mass testing is that if you can test a lot of people who have the virus, but have no symptoms, and you can isolate them, you can reduce the spread of the disease.’
The Prime Minister will announce that more than 100,000 people will be told to take the test in all three cities, including one in the Midlands and one in southern England. Pictured: Soldiers prepare to clean up Liverpool residents for coronavirus at Croxteth Sports Center yesterday
More sites in Wales and Scotland have been selected for a third wave of massive weekly testing.
Later this week, the government is expected to reduce the time required to isolate itself from 10 or 14 days to seven days.
Whitehall sources say the Health Department wants to use the military to lead the national “moonshot” testing program.
More than 2,000 army soldiers were dispatched to Liverpool earlier this week to begin massive tests that aim to cleanse all 500,000 people from across the city.
Lt. Gen. Tyrone Urch, who commands the 7,500-strong military Covid Support Force, said thousands more military personnel are on standby if necessary to expand the massive testing regime.
Cars queue outside a coronavirus testing center at Wavertree Sports Park in Liverpool yesterday morning
He added: ‘First of all, this is a pilot. We don’t know where it will go. It has the potential to be more widely deployed. I’m sure if the government demands it and Secretary of State Ben Wallace approves it, we could do the same again. This is definitely scalable. ‘
Up to 12,000 Liverpool residents were screened for coronavirus on the first day of the city’s mass testing program, its public health director said yesterday, insisting that initial progress was “ very encouraging ” despite queues from a time when people mingled with others who were potentially infected with the virus.
Liverpool’s Matt Ashton said they are “still working on the numbers”, but initial estimates suggest that between 1,500 and 2,000 people were tested at each of the six test sites.
Boris Johnson (pictured taking a test in Leicester this week) has ordered the massive smear in an attempt to identify asymptomatic people
More swab samples took place yesterday as hundreds of people marched through the streets of Liverpool to protest the second national shutdown.
Eight more sites were opened on Saturday as the government increased capacity to meet its target of 50,000 tests a day once the city’s program is fully operational.
But some residents condemned the first day of the mass testing regime as a ‘disaster’ because those who were well were forced to mingle in hour-long lines with people potentially infected with Covid-19.
Photographer David Colbran, 51, told MailOnline yesterday that he was left queuing with people who had symptoms despite feeling fine and said ‘it’s not until you get to the first person in high visibility that they ask if you have symptoms and you realize they’ve been with people who have symptoms for over an hour. ‘
The Health Department expects to publicly release the results on the number of positive swabs it completed on Friday, a spokesperson said.
More swab samples were taken yesterday as hundreds of people marched through the streets of Liverpool to protest the second national shutdown. A clip showed them passing one of the city’s testing centers.
