Thousands of new cases of COVID-19 have been potentially averted and the detection of infections has increased by nearly a fifth thanks to a community testing pilot in Liverpool, the results suggest.
Researchers said more than 3,200 key employee days were protected from quarantine through a test-to-release program.
Led by the University of Liverpool and the Department of Health and Social Affairs (DHSC), the study ran from November 6, 2020 to April 30, 2021 with the aim of improving detection of the coronavirus using lateral flow tests for people without symptoms.
The pilot ran from November 6, 2020 to April 30 of this year
He showed that new cases of COVID-19[female[feminine fell 21% compared to other areas until mid-December – a time when the UK variant of the virus made it more difficult to compare areas.
More than half – 57% or 283,338 people – in Liverpool have taken a lateral flow test (LFT) in what Liverpool City Council has said is the world’s first voluntary mass testing program for people without symptoms of COVID-19.
The results of the study showed that about 6,300 people reporting no symptoms tested positive by lateral flow – 2.1% positive cases.
Liverpool’s community testing compared to other regions saw an estimated 18% increase in case detection and a 21% reduction in cases through mid-December, the researchers said.
Optimistic modeling suggested 6,600 cases were prevented thanks to the mass test pilot – but scientists said a pessimistic model showed only 850 infections were prevented.
Professor Iain Buchan, director of public health and clinical informatics at the University of Liverpool’s faculty of health and life sciences, said scientists had taken a “cautious approach” with modeling .
“That’s why we have this wide range between a pessimistic scenario and an optimistic scenario,” he said.
“The reality is, it’s probably a lot closer to the optimistic scenario, if it does …
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Source: news.sky.com
This notice was published: 2021-07-06 19:51:00