Hundreds tested for Covid-19 as Liverpool pilot scheme begins

Hundreds of people have been tested for coronavirus as a new pilot scheme started in Liverpool.

Yesterday, queues built up outside n ew test centres which were opened at midday as part of the mass coronavirus testing programme.

At Liverpool Tennis Centre, one of the six facilities which opened yesterday, people began to wait outside about 45 minutes before it opened.

Veronica Atkinson, 71, who was among those in the queue, said she was a “bit apprehensive” but wanted to know the result.

She said: “I want to be able to go for Christmas dinner.”

An 86-year-old man, who did not want to be named, said: “I’m retired and I live nearby so I thought I’d come down.

“The Test and Trace doesn’ t seem to have worked so this seems to be the best system.”

The armed forces have been brought into the city to help deliver the scheme, which uses lateral flow tests to deliver results in under an hour for people who are not showing symptoms of the virus.

Director of public health for Liverpool Matt Ashton said there was capacity for 85 centres to be set up by the end of the pilot scheme, which is due to last for 10 days initially, with the prospect of it being extended.

He said: “It’ll give us a really good understanding of the virus in the city, the levels of the virus and where it is.

“It allows us to target our resources properly but it also allows us to help people understand their personal status and then control the spread of the virus, break the chains of transmission.

“This is not a top-down approach.

“This has absolutely been led by the city, requested by the city and this is about our communities being activated and helping to keep themselves and everybody else in the city safe.”

He said that there was capacity to test everyone who wanted to be tested twice during the pilot period.