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UK announces “freedom pass” scheme for people testing negative for COVID-19

(Worthy News) –
The British government announced a new COVID-19 community-testing plan Monday, under which people who test negative for the virus in certain regions may face fewer restrictions, Forbes reports. Dubbed “freedom passes” by UK media, the lower restrictions would be available for people testing negative in areas of the country that will be coming under the strictest measures.

The government’s new plan provides for community-wide mass-testing and a three-tier system under which different parts of the country will face varying degrees of restrictions, depending on the local concentration of cases, Forbes reports. The “freedom pass” would be for those living in ‘Tier 3’ areas that are subject to the most stringent measures.

The UK is currently under a national lockdown on December 2. The three-tiered Winter Plan will come into effect after the lockdown has ended and will be in place until March 2021.

However, ministers have said the planned system has many “unknowns.” While the lateral-flow mass-testing system can give results in 20 minutes, it has only a 76.8% accuracy rate. Therefore, Forbes noted: “This means that around 23 out of 100 infected individuals may test negative though they actually have Covid-19. Those individuals could be issued a “freedom pass,” allowing them to spread the infection to others. The accuracy for self-collected samples is even lower at 58%.”

Nevertheless, Prime Minister Boris Johnson stated that the testing system is “contributing to a very substantial fall in infection” in Liverpool, where it is being tried out on 200,000 residents. “Those towns and regions which engage in community testing will have a much greater chance of easing the rules, the tiering, that they currently endure,” he added.