Mass testing plan to offer way out of lockdown
Prime Minister signals hope is on the horizon as he defends new national restrictions to Commons
ENTIRE cities will be given weekly Covid testing, starting this week in Liverpool, as part of new efforts to track and stop the spread of the virus.
Boris Johnson has said “virtually instant” Covid-19 tests and vaccine breakthroughs will “enable us to defeat this virus by the spring,” amid a backlash from MPS as a new lockdown looms.
Insisting national restrictions will be “time limited” to a month, the Prime Minister said Britain’s exit strategy depended on using the time to “exploit the medical and technical advances” to get the epidemic under control.
Eight out of 10 people with Covid are asymptomatic and are silently spreading the virus. Experts say weekly tests could halve the reproduction rate by quickly identifying those who are infected and ensuring they isolate, while allowing others to resume activities.
The Army will be deployed to help roll out the mass tests, including those that give results in 15 minutes. The first pilot starts on Friday and will be offered to everyone in Liverpool, including schoolchildren. If it succeeds, millions of tests will be offered in cities nationwide between now and Christmas.
Yesterday the Prime Minister said rapid turnaround tests were key to Britain’s “exit strategy” from heavy restrictions, with regular testing identifying those with the virus and breaking chains of transmission.
Mr Johnson said the roll-out of mass testing and the “real prospect” of a vaccine early next year gave him grounds for optimism. He told the Commons: “I believe that these technical developments, taken together, will enable us to defeat this virus by the spring, as humanity has defeated every other infectious disease.” Amid anger from Tory MPS, Mr Johnson i nsisted a national lockdown, if approved by MPS, would automatically expire next month and that the Commons would “have a vote to agree the way forward”.
The plans for “whole-city testing” are part of a £100 billion “Moonshot” strategy which aims to see 10 million people tested a day regardless of whether they have symptoms. Yesterday, Jacob ReesMogg, Leader of the Commons, said Parliament was considering introducing regular Covid tests for MPS.
From Friday, all Liverpool residents will be offered weekly checks in schools, universities, hospitals and at home.
Case rates in the North West are among the highest in the country. The tests include those that can return a result in 15 minutes. Anyone who tests positive, and contacts who are required to self-isolate, will be entitled to a £500 Test and Trace support payment. However, currently those who are told to self-isolate by the app are not given access to such payments, a matter ministers have promised to rectify.
Yesterday ministers announced testing capacity passed its 500,000-a-day target on Oct 31, in line with its targets.
But scientists are concerned the Test and Trace system has lost control of the virus, with too few people coming forward for tests, delays getting results and too few contacts being traced.
Last month, Sage suggested the R rate could be shrunk to at least 0.75 with mass testing and better contact tracing.
BORIS JOHNSON has suggested lockdown measures will be in place until spring, as he signalled the mass testing of cities using “quick turnaround tests” would help the Government to beat the virus by suppressing the R rate.
In a statement to the House of Commons yesterday, the Prime Minister said a new testing programme would begin “within days” and test millions of people with results in “minutes”, building to a testing programme that would beat the virus by early next year.
The Prime Minister’s message of hope for a vaccine and highly efficient testing next year came as he apologised for the severity of new lockdown measures, and for the “painful choices” he had foisted on the public.
Ahead of tomorrow’s vote on the new national lockdown in England, Mr Johnson answered 100 questions from MPS in a mammoth debate that lasted more than two hours, which laid bare disquiet from his own benches on the closure of outdoor sports facilities and the lack of published evidence to justify the four-week lockdown.
Fast testing
The Prime Minister promised that the Government would begin the rollout of “many millions of cheap, reliable rapid turnaround tests, with the result in minutes”, which will be first deployed in schools and hospitals.
Using the Army to help with logistics, Mr Johnson said the Government would ramp up its rapid testing capability to identify “people who are infectious but who do not have symptoms, allowing them immediately to self-isolate and stop the spread of the disease”. The tests could also allow partners of pregnant women to attend scans and births, and could culminate in “whole towns and even cities” receiving tests.
Mr Johnson said the tests would “enable us to beat the virus by the spring, as humanity has beaten every other infectious disease”.
Vote tomorrow
The latest restrictions start on Thursday and are in place until Dec 2, when they will automatically expire, Mr Johnson said. That means MPS must vote on replacement measures for the national lockdown before then, with the Government suggesting the country will return to the system it currently uses.
“We intend to return to a tiered system on a local and regional basis according to the latest data and trends, and the House will have a vote to agree the way forward,” Mr Johnson said.
Responding to a question from Simon Jupp, a Tory MP, Mr Johnson reassured his backbenchers the restrictions could not be indefinitely extended by the Government and would need the consent of MPS to continue if the R rate did not fall as planned.
Avoiding third lockdown
Tory backbencher Laura Farris asked the Prime Minister for “assurances that the new tools that are at his disposal, particularly the 15-minute tests, will be sufficiently ubiquitous to avoid any future national lockdown”.
Mr Johnson replied that it was “certainly the intention” to use the rapid tests to make the latest national lockdown the last – with a return to a tiered lockdown system before restrictions were lifted indefinitely.
The tests, which look like pregnancy tests and use a swab of the patient’s saliva, can be administered by an untrained person and cost just £5.
‘Never forgiven’
Mr Johnson faced some tough questions from his back benches, from MPS who questioned the evidence for a lockdown or bemoaned the loss of liberties.
Sir Charles Walker, an executive member of the 1922 Committee, said the public would “never, ever forgive the political class” for stopping parents seeing their children. The MP called for the drastic introduction of a written constitution overseen by the Supreme Court to prevent future Governments from repeating Mr Johnson’s mistakes.
Liam Fox, the former Cabinet minister, called for a parliamentary committee to oversee decision-making on lockdowns. Mr Johnson said the public was more worried about the virus than “delectable disputations” on constitutional politics. Sammy Wilson, a DUP MP, accused Mr Johnson of behaving more like Hitler’s appeaser Lord Halifax than Winston Churchill.
Philip Davies, a Tory MP, asked “how many collapsed businesses and how many job losses he and his government believe are a price worth paying to continue this failed strategy”.
Mr Johnson replied that “the data is inescapable and if we are to avert the loss of many thousands of lives, this is the only option”.
Sir Graham Brady, the chairman of the 1922 Committee, asked for the full impact of a lockdown “in terms of jobs that will be lost, businesses that will fail and the enormous toll on people’s mental health and other health”.
Mr Johnson said there were “many estimates of the economic impact that the country has already sustained ... but against them we must set the tragic loss of life that would ensue if this House failed to act on Wednesday”.
Tory MP Huw Merriman asked why East Sussex was being locked down when it had “one of the lowest Covid rates of any county”. Mr Johnson replied: “The medical data is – alas – overwhelming.”
Care home visits
People in care homes could be allowed a designated family member to visit them if they are regularly tested, the Prime Minister suggested. In response to a question from Julian Smith, a former Cabinet minister Mr Johnson said: “It is an exceptionally difficult dilemma, but we do think that repeated testing does offer the way forward.”
Updated guidance on care home visits is expected to be published before MPS debate the regulations tomorrow.
Vitamin D
Vulnerable people in England could be sent Vitamin D, which has been shown to reduce the effects of the virus, Mr Johnson said.
David Davis, the former Brexit Secretary, asked the Prime Minister whether he would copy a scheme in Scotland where Vitamin D is sent to people who are clinically vulnerable.
“We are indeed looking at the possible beneficial effects of Vitamin D, and will be updating the House shortly,” Mr Johnson said. The Government is understood to be revising its view after Matt Hancock, the Health Secretary, claimed it had no effect on the virus.
The Prime Minister reassured those with medical conditions that they would not be required to shield as they did in March, because of concerns over loneliness and severe mental health issues. But new guidance will require them to work from home only.
Golf and tennis ban
Although he “bitterly regrets” banning outdoor sports including golf and tennis, Mr Johnson told Stephen Metcalfe and Kevan Jones he could not keep adding exceptions to the rules, otherwise measures would not work. Mr Johnson told Mr Jones: “Any particular human activity, you can always find an arguable exemption from these measures.”
Asked for the rationale for gym closures by Sara Britcliffe, a Tory MP, Mr Johnson replied: “The rationale is very simple. It is to reduce the overall spread of the virus and get the R below one.”
He said he would “consider carefully” an idea from Tory MP Pauline Latham to allow two people to play golf together.
Takeaway beer
Mark Pawsey, a Tory backbencher, asked why a customer could not order a beer with food in the new lockdown.
Mr Johnson said the “budget of measures” needed to remain whole, and that “once you start unpicking one bit, logically a lot of the rest of it comes out”.
People can buy alcohol from supermarkets, but not from pubs and restaurants operating a takeaway service.