U.K. Boosts Testing as Johnson Seeks Lockdown Exit Strategy
- Liverpool mass testing trial to identify asymptomatic cases
- Tory MPs raise concerns over civil liberties and mental health
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Boris Johnson said there is “no alternative” to imposing a coronavirus lockdown across England to stop the health service being overwhelmed, as he revealed plans for whole cities to be tested to root-out asymptomatic carriers of the disease.
Mass checks will be trialled in Liverpool, northwest England, from Friday with everyone in the city to be offered repeat testing -- even if they don’t have symptoms. If the program is successful, millions of the test kits will be distributed in other places in the coming weeks, the government said.