the first trial of city-wide coronavirus
testing began
in liverpool today over the next
fortnight anyone who lives or works in
the city
regardless of whether they have symptoms
is eligible for a test
the pilot aims to see how widespread the
virus is and it's hoped it could lead to
mass
testing in other towns and cities our
health correspondent dominic hughes has
spent the day in liverpool
is this the way out of liverpool's covid
dilemma
mass testing has begun in the city
that's seen some of the highest
infection rates in the uk it's a bit of
an inconvenience but at the end of the
day if that means you can spend your
christmas with your grandparents
why wouldn't you you haven't got any
symptoms right no asymptomatic
um it's just because i feel that more
people get tested the sooner we can get
out of this get over with and try and
get back to normality really
already a significant queue is built up
here at one of the testing centers in
liverpool none of these people have any
symptoms many of them
haven't even been tested before but
that's the point of this pilot to try
and identify people
who are asymptomatic who don't have any
symptoms and yet still
may be infectious the latest data shows
that infections across the uk
are still rising but the rate of
increase has slowed
and while this pilot may only last 10
days a shorter trial than was expected
officials believe it will deliver
valuable lessons for other towns and
cities
it is absolutely essential in rolling
out testing for the future across the
whole country
and in the absence of a vaccine until
we've got a vaccine
we have to live with covert cove it
hasn't gone anywhere we have to live
with covert
so having that mass testing approach
where communities understand
where the virus is who's got it and what
they need to do will be incredibly
helpful
for helping us all live with covert two
thousand members of the armed forces are
supporting the liverpool pilot
some residents will get a faster
procedure known as a lateral flow test
that can give results in around
20 minutes a positive result by this
method will be double checked with a
regular swab test
and this approach testing entire cities
has helped other countries to curb
infections but community support is
vital
we need buy-in by the population the
population needs to have trust
in the government and local government
that you know this is going to work
that the sacrifice they're going to make
in going for testing
and the time it takes um will be worth
it that there is a value in doing this
the logistical challenge of repeatedly
testing nearly half a million people
is formidable there were some long
queues today but more test centres are
opening tomorrow
the real value of the pilot though will
only become clear over the next few
weeks
dominic hughes bbc news liverpool
well let's look now at the latest
government figures there were 23
287 new coronavirus infections recorded
in the latest 24-hour period
the average number of new cases reported
per day in the last week is now 22
392. 1463 people had been admitted to
hospital on average each day over the
week to
last friday 355 deaths were reported
that's people who died within 28 days of
a positive covid19 test
it means on average in the past week 321
deaths were announced every day and it
takes the total number of deaths so far
across the uk to 48 475.
well new figures from the office for
national statistics suggests
that the rate of coronavirus infections
across
england and wales appears to be slowing
down
but in the last week of october more
than 600 000 people in england
had the virus our science correspondent
rebecca morell is here you've been
looking at the figures what do they show
well these numbers really do give us a
weekly snapshot of where we are with the
pandemic and they're
based on a survey of households chosen
at random from across
the uk so this graph actually
shows the estimated percentage of
people with the virus in england and you
can see
how the cases are really rising at the
end of september
but they are starting to level off and
this suggests that the
regional restrictions that were
introduced a few weeks ago
may be starting to have an impact
although the numbers aren't going down
and it's a pattern that's being repeated
across the uk but there are differences
in the prevalence of the virus too so in
northern ireland that's got the highest
infection level
with 1 in 75 people estimated to have
the
virus in england it's one in 90 people
and
in wales and scotland it's one in 110
people the r number has also been
published
today in this slew of data and this
basically
gives you an idea of how much the virus
is spreading
and the estimate is between 1.1 and 1.3
the same as last week but because it's
above one that does suggest the pandemic
is still growing now we have got tougher
restrictions you know the the lockdown
in england but
the issue is if you want to get cases
down quickly you really need to get that
r number well below one and the question
is
with places like schools and
universities open at the moment
whether these measures will really do
that rebecca thank you