Britain to introduce mass testing to curb the spread of COVID-19

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain plans to put in place regular, population-wide testing for COVID-19 so it can suppress the spread of the virus and ease restrictions that have crippled its economy without triggering a second wave in one of the most affected countries in the world.

Health Minister Matt Hancock said the government was testing a range of new, faster tests that could give instant results and hoped to roll them out towards the end of the year.

“Mass testing, population testing, where we make sure that people are tested regularly, which therefore allows us to allow the return of certain freedoms, is a huge government project at the moment,” he said. he told BBC Radio.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government has been criticized by political opponents and health experts for being too slow to go into lockdown and roll out tests to find out how far the virus has spread.

Britain now has the highest death toll in Europe, at over 50,000, and the deepest economic contraction of any major advanced economy.

Hancock said the country’s research labs at Porton Down are testing new saliva tests that don’t need to go to a lab, so they can provide faster results.

“There are new technologies coming on the right track that we are buying and testing now,” he said. “We will definitely be increasing it for the rest of this year.”

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has promised mass testing there after her first local case of COVID-19 in 102 days.

Widespread testing is seen as a way to reopen the economy, which suffered a record 20% contraction in the second quarter and is expected to see unemployment soar when the government ends its massive job subsidy program in October.

“The hard times are here,” Finance Minister Rishi Sunak said last week.

ENCOURAGEMENT

New testing approaches that do not need to be processed in labs could also prompt a reassessment of UK policy of forcing travelers from countries such as Spain and France to self-quarantine.

London Heathrow Airport said on Wednesday a test area was ready to open if Britain approves a rule change and would allow two tests, one on arrival and one a few days later, to cut down on time quarantine of travelers for the current two weeks.

“The decision to increase mass testing and use new techniques will support efforts to encourage people to resume aspects of daily life that may worry them,” said Sian Griffiths, professor emeritus of public health at Chinese University of Hong Kong.

“Receiving this information in a shorter time frame will allow further consideration of testing in situations such as airports.”

For current lab tests, the UK government says it currently has a daily testing capacity of over 335,000, although as of August, between 150,000 and 190,000 tests were actually processed each day.

By comparison, the German Association of Testing Laboratories said on Tuesday that the country was using around 750,000 of a weekly capacity of one million tests and therefore using a greater proportion of its capacity.

Cases in Britain have started to rise again, with more than 1,000 positive results in eight of the past 10 days.

The government said on Wednesday it would expand a test study conducted by the Bureau of National Statistics from 28,000 people to 150,000 by October and ultimately 400,000 to help build a better national picture of the pandemic and spot local outbreaks.