How to get a grip on testing

摘要

THIS month, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced an ambition to increase the country's capacity for coronavirus testing to several million tests a day. Billed as Operation Moonshot, the idea was received with widespread incredulity. The UK is currently failing to meet demand for coronavirus testing, with roughly half a million daily requests outstripping supply by up to fourfold. Yet there are also reports of new technologies in development that could make testing faster and cheaper. If the UK had the capacity to test not just those with symptoms of covid-19, but to regularly test symptomless people too, it could be a game changer in the ability to control the disease. From the beginning of the pandemic, many countries have struggled to provide enough coronavirus tests for all those who need them. A lack of tests is disruptive because anyone with symptoms that resemble those of covid-19 has to stay at home and isolate, and must also be treated as infectious within hospitals.