The latest analysis of the first ever voluntary ‘mass testing’ programme for people without COVID symptoms, Liverpool’s COVID-SMART pilot, has been published in The BMJ.
The study, led by researchers from the University of Liverpool, found that the city’s COVID-SMART pilot was associated with an overall 25% reduction in COVID-19 related hospital admissions, including a 43% reduction in the pilot’s first month.
Researchers say that, if causal, the effects of the pilot prevented 6,829 infections and led to 239 fewer hospital admissions across the city of Liverpool, before being rolled out to the rest of the UK.
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