10 pct of England's population could be tested for COVID-19 every week -Guardian

Up to 10 pct of England`s population could be tested for COVID-19 every week after NHS Test and Trace asked local health chiefs to deploy 30-minute saliva kits in an acceleration of Prime Minister Boris Johnson`s controversial "Operation Moonshot" mass screening plan, The Guardian newspaper reported on Wednesday.

NHS Test and Trace has asked all directors of public health to sign up to receive rapid-result test kits for up to a tenth of their populations every week as part of "an exciting and important new front in our fight against coronavirus", the report said, citing a letter seen by the newspaper.

Boris Johnson is being put under pressure for a new lockdown with the government working on the assumption the second wave of coronavirus will be more deadly than the first, the Telegraph newspaper reported on Tuesday.

An internal analysis of the projected course of the second wave, provided by the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE), has led to intense lobbying from UK chief scientific adviser Patrick Vallance and other advisers for Johnson to take more drastic action, the report said.

The analysis shows deaths peaking at a lower level than in the spring but remaining at that level for weeks or even months, the newspaper added.

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