Test for army as Moonshot starts
THE masked soldiers guide you to a cubicle, then a swab is handed through a small window ready for the test.
This is the Operation Moonshot trial in Liverpool – and after weeks of living under England’s strictest lockdown rules, residents are keen to do their bit.
The test centre at Liverpool Tennis Centre in Wavertree is one of six in the city opened on Friday to identify people with Covid-19 – and especially those with no symptoms.
At the nearby Exhibition
Centre Liverpool, LieutenantGeneral Tyrone Urch tells me 2,000 soldiers from 17 units were drafted in to do the tests.
Here there are 20 bays with six tests an hour done in each.
The centres are using a mix of existing swab tests, which give results in 24 hours, and a new “rapid lateral flow” test where the result is given on a strip like a pregnancy test.
Moonshot’s aim is to test as many people as possible.
Liverpool director of public health Matt Ashton said: “We are still working on the numbers but we think... about 1,500-2,000 people per testing centre, so really good numbers and really good interest.”
Staff saw 1,500 per centre, so it’s good interest
MATT ASHTON PUBLIC HEALTH DIRECTOR