Everyone living or working in Liverpool will be offered regular Covid-19 tests as part of the first whole-city testing programme in the country, according to an article published by the Liverpool Echo newspaper this evening.
The paper reports that rapid turnaround tests will be available across the city from Friday (6th November) and that 2,000 military personnel will arrive in the region to roll-out the massive testing programme.
If successful in Liverpool, it will be rolled out across the rest of the city region and then in other areas of the country.
The pilot scheme will see hundreds of thousands of tests carried out, as Liverpool becomes the centre of the government’s new strategy to fight the virus.
The Echo explains that Liverpool residents and workers will be tested using “a combination of existing swab tests, as well as new lateral flow tests, which can rapidly turn around results within an hour without the need to be processed in a lab, as well as ‘LAMP’ technology due to be deployed in Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust for NHS staff.”
It is hoped that the mass testing programme will give places like Liverpool a clearer picture of the number of cases in a specific geographical area, enabling local leaders to make informed decisions about managing the spread of the virus.
Read more on the Liverpool Echo website, here.
BBC Radio Merseyside tweets:
Liverpool is to become a pilot for mass #Covid testing. The council will work with the Government to roll out the tests. https://t.co/NYWvDCkkqW
— BBC Radio Merseyside (@bbcmerseyside) November 2, 2020
👇 More details on the mass testing plan. Tomorrow morning, hear from @DPH_MAshton and @mayor_anderson live with @snellyradio on @bbcmerseyside pic.twitter.com/vSRKa3ZrEV
— BBC Radio Merseyside (@bbcmerseyside) November 2, 2020
PM @BorisJohnson has welcomed Liverpool’s Covid testing pilot. pic.twitter.com/YlBaQxtLrY
— BBC Radio Merseyside (@bbcmerseyside) November 2, 2020
