Liverpool will be offering regular Covid-19 tests to everyone living in the city, whether or not they have symptoms. Follow-up tests will be offered every two weeks.
The tests will start this week and will include a mix of swab and new lateral flow tests that can provide a result within an hour without the use of a laboratory. Testing sites will be set up across the city, care homes, schools, workplaces and universities. People can have walk-in appointments, book online or wait for an invitation from the government.
The city currently under tier three restrictions and has one of the highest rates of Covid-19 deaths in the UK, along with 1,754 cases in the week leading up to 30th October.
Mr Johnson said: “Dependent on their success in Liverpool, we will aim to distribute millions of these new rapid tests between now and Christmas and empower local communities to use them to drive down transmission in their areas.”
The aim of these tests is to limit the spread of the virus by identifying as many people who are infected as possible. A rising number of cases caused Prime Minister Boris Johnson to announce a national lockdown that is set to begin on Thursday and will last till 2nd December.
