Covid-19 mass testing facilities could end the epidemic rapidly

• Published in: BMJ (Online) Vol. 368; p. m1163
• Main Author: Peto, Julian
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England BMJ Publishing Group LTD 22.03.2020
• Subjects: Asymptomatic Infections; Betacoronavirus; Clinical Laboratory Techniques; Coronavirus Infections - diagnosis; Coronavirus Infections - epidemiology; Coronavirus Infections - transmission; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; COVID-19 Testing; Disease Outbreaks - prevention & control; Homeless people; Humans; Laboratories; Mass Screening - methods; Medical screening; Pharynx; Pneumonia, Viral - diagnosis; Pneumonia, Viral - epidemiology; Pneumonia, Viral - transmission; Public Health Surveillance; SARS-CoV-2; United Kingdom; United Kingdom; United Kingdom > UK

Centrally organised facilities with the capacity to test the entire UK population weekly (in 6 days at 10 million tests per day) can be made available much more quickly and cheaply than a vaccine, probably within weeks. Only laboratories that do PCR routinely would participate, subject to central qu...