Picture used for illustrative purpose. File

GulfToday Report

Liverpool starts city-wide trial of COVID-19 testing in order to prevent health facilities from being overwhelmed during the second wave of the pandemic.

All 500,000 residents and the people working in the city will be tested even if asymptomatic, under the pilot.

Joe Anderson, Mayor of Liverpool, who lost a brother to COVID-19 last month, said the pilot could save lives and "get the city out of tier three restrictions".

Liverpool has been battling spike in cases for a while, making it the first English city to be in the most severe tier of lockdown in the region.

Jurgen Klopp, manager of the legendary Liverpool football team called on residents to get tested. 

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In a video message posted on the club’s Twitter account, he urged the people to do it for themselves, their families, their colleagues and their cities.

Over 48,000 have died from coronavirus in Britain.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson  on Thursday said the kind of cheap new tests being used in Liverpool "can be a massive and possibly decisive use to us in this country in defeating the virus".

The tests involve swabs and new "lateral flow" tests, akin to pregnancy tests, which can provide a result within 20 minutes.