Operation Moonshot: Leaked documents prompt questions over cost, evidence, and reliance on private sector
The UK government’s plans to carry out up to 10 million covid-19 tests a day by early next year as part of a £100bn expansion of its national testing programme raise many questions Gareth Iacobucci examines the leaked documents It refers to the government’s plan to deliver a mass population testing programme for covid-19 by early 2021, with the aim to test the whole UK population each week. A confidential briefing memo sent to Scotland’s first minister and cabinet secretaries, seen by The BMJ ,1 reveals plans to grow the UK’s testing capacity from the current 350 000 a day to up to 10 million tests a day by early 2021, costing “over £100bn to deliver.” The plans are dependent on a huge upscaling in diagnostic capacity and the use of as yet unvalidated technologies. They envisage a prominent role for the private sector in planning and delivery. The government’s aim is to “utilise the full range of testing approaches and technologies to help reduce the R rate, keep the economy open and enable a return to normal life.” The Whitehall memo makes it clear that the prime minister views mass testing as the UK’s “only hope for avoiding a second national lockdown before a vaccine, something the country cannot afford.” He would also like this to support the opening up of the economy and allow the population to return to something closer to normality. Many suspect that the desire for positive headlines is also driving this particular agenda and the eye catching numbers behind it. The current government advice is that only people with symptoms should have a covid-19 test. The Moonshot strategy moves way beyond this, stating that the plan is to eventually test the whole population, including people without symptoms “where testing enables economic or other vital …