Test plan met with skepticism
Health expert calls British strategy ‘fundamentally flawed’
LONDON — Health experts on Thursday expressed strong skepticism about the British government’s ambitious plans to carry out millions of coronavirus tests daily in a bid to help people resume normal lives in the absence of a vaccine.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he wanted to roll out much simpler, faster mass testing “in the near future” to identify people who don’t have the virus so that they can “behave in a more normal way in the knowledge they can’t infect anyone else.” Johnson said people with such negative “passports” could then attend events at places like theaters, and he said he was “hopeful” that the plan will be widespread by springtime.
Johnson made the comments as he announced strict new measures to try to curb a sharp recent rise in COVID-19 cases across Britain. From Monday, social gatherings of more than six people will be banned in England — both indoors and outdoors — and Johnson hinted that such restrictions will potentially remain in place until or through Christmas.
Health professionals were quick to question the mass testing claims, with one expert calling the strategy — known as “Operation Moonshot” — “fundamentally flawed.”
“It is being based on technology that does not, as yet, exist,” said Dr. David Strain, clinical lecturer at the University of Exeter.
Dr. Chaand Nagpaul, council chairman of the British Medical Association, echoed the concerns, particularly given the problems Britain is already experiencing with laboratory capacity to process tests.
“The notion of opening up society based on negative tests of those without symptoms needs to be approached with caution — both because of the high rate of ‘false negatives’ and the potential to miss those who are incubating the virus,” he said.
Jonathan Ashworth, the opposition Labour party’s health spokesman, said Thursday that many are “fed up of undelivered promises.” In response, Health Secretary Matt Hancock said he’s “absolutely determined that we will get there.”
In other developments:
■ The coronavirus pandemic has led to the cancellation of this year’s premier global art fairs since March, stymieing the main commercial artery of the multibillion-dollar industry. But Art Paris, which is France’s second-biggest contemporary art fair, is opening its doors to thousands of visitors from Thursday in the Grand Palais. The four-day show is going ahead despite a spike in COVID-19 infections in the country.
■ Guatemala plans to reopen its borders next week, six months after closing them in an effort to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus. A government notice published Thursday in the official register said that with some limitations and requirements to follow health guidelines, the country’s land, sea and air borders would reopen Sept. 18.
■ Myanmar was accelerating efforts Thursday to control the spread of the coronavirus, which has led to campaigning for November’s general election to be suspended in some areas due to partial virus lockdowns. The Ministry of Health and Sport issued a stay-at-home order for 20 Yangon townships effective Thursday as cases of the coronavirus continued to rise, with 120 new cases and two deaths.