Testing whole cities will set people free, says professor

CITY-WIDE Covid tests could free millions of people from self-isolation, a government adviser has suggested, allowing people to “go about their business” again.

Sir John Bell, regius professor of medicine at the University of Oxford, said the programme – about to be launched in Liverpool – could mean people are only told to self-isolate in the event of a positive test, instead of as a precaution.

Currently, all close contacts of a positive case must self-isolate for 14 days – meaning entire families are stuck indoors for a fortnight.

Ministers are considering halving the time close contacts are asked to self-isolate, limiting it to a week. But scientists suggested that if mass testing works, and is offered across the whole population it could replace such systems.

Slovakia has just become one of the first countries in the world to offer mass testing, with two-thirds of its population tested over the weekend. The same strategy has been used in small countries such as Luxembourg, and in Chinese cities, including Wuhan, where the virus is believed to have originated.

Sir John said his team have trialled 70 pregnancy-style tests and found six “that look really good”. He told BBC Radio 4’s Today: “I hesitate to use the word game-changer because it gets overused, but it is a significant step forward in the testing arena.”

Speaking as t he Government announced the pilot scheme in Liverpool, which will be expanded across the country if it succeeds, he said such testing was “massively important”.

“People get pretty irritated when they get told that they’ve passed somebody in the shops, and they now have to quarantine for 14 days,” he said.

“With these tests, it should be possible as we get the system in place to be able to test those people every two days, and they can go about their business provided they remain negative, and most of them will remain negative.

“We should be able to track populations and get on top of those who are actually likely to spread the disease and that’s I think from a public health perspective massively important.

“That opens the door for people to get back to a much more routine way of life.”

Lord Bilimoria, the president of the Confederation of British Industry, said the programme offers the “first true chink of light” that the virus can be controlled, allowing restrictions “to be much more focused”.