The Government will start testing sewage to track coronavirus and could ban domestic travel to stop local outbreaks.
Infected people are thought to shed coronavirus material in faeces soon after symptoms appear, meaning sewage could act as a quicker indicator of the presence of Covid-19 than swab tests.
This has led the government to ramp up mass sewage testing nationwide after trials across 44 sites in England were able to identify local infection rises.
Environment Secretary George Eustice said the measure would give officials a ‘head start’ on tackling further outbreaks.
A wave of localised flare-ups across England has prompted Downing Street to discuss radical proposals to shake up its crisis response.
This could include banning travel in and out of areas with high infections as part of a ‘flexible’ strategy to avoid another national lockdown and derail the economic recovery.
The notion of domestic travel bans has resurfaced in government in recent days, having initially been touted in the early stages of the pandemic when London bore the brunt of cases and was feared to be an epicentre.
In other developments –
- Rishi’s Sunak’s Eat Out To Help Out restaurant discount scheme launched, giving diners 50% off meals;
- Health Secretary Matt Hancock announced ‘transformative’ 90-minute Covid tests that will be rolled out from next week;
- Officials in Greater Manchester declared a ‘major incident’ after a rise in local cases;
- Public areas were allowed to reopen in parts of Leicester and residents told to return to national social distancing guidelines.
Boris Johnson’s government will start testing sewage to detect local flare-ups. The Prime Minister is pictured on Friday
Scientists have long known that coronavirus can be detecting in sewage, with tests in Barcelona showing the virus was circulating as far back as March 2019.
This led to British scientists conducting their own trials, which confirmed the measure was accurate and could be rolled out nationwide.
Environment Secretary George Eustice told the Sun: ‘The aim of this new research is to give us a head start on outbreaks.
‘We are working closely with researchers, water firms and the devolved governments.’ Analysis from Bangor University showed that the volume of coronavirus in sewage samples plummeted after lockdown was imposed.
Professor Davey Jones, who contributed to the study, told the British Medical Journal: ‘If there’s one person infected in a population of 10,000, we can pick it up. It’s that sensitive.’
Testing sewage could also be safer than swab tests as there is no evidence the virus can be spread via waste water, according to the World Health Organisation.
The measure is part of a wider shake-up of the government’s response to coronavirus in the wake of a series of localised flare-ups.
This could include banning travel between areas with high infection rates.
The Times reports the notion of domestic travel bans has resurfaced in government in recent days, having initially been touted in the early stages of the pandemic when London bore the brunt of cases and was feared to be an epicentre.
The plans to insulate the capital to stem the spread of Covid-19 were shelved, but could be revived as part of Boris Johnson’s new targeted approach.
Beefed-up powers have already handed ministers the ability to mandate such travel bans with police enforcement.
Sewage could act as a quicker indicator of the presence of Covid-19 than swab tests. File photo
Officials have also drawn up plans that could see millions of people asked to stay at home if a second wave of coronavirus infections takes hold.
Under one option, people aged between 50 and 70 would get personalised risk ratings as part of a significant widening of the shielding programme.
The plan attracted a storm of protest last night, with critics claiming it failed to recognise the important contribution over-50s make to the economy and risked stigmatising older people in the workplace.
Former government adviser Joan Bakewell said ministers needed first to tackle the problem of young people failing to socially distance.
Baroness Bakewell, who was tsar for the elderly in the last Labour government, said: ‘Certainly older people have to take care – I have been taking great care myself – but what is happening is that young people are not distancing and they are not wearing masks. The young have got to get their act together.
‘Young people assume it is over and are not distancing themselves as they should. They know they should, they have been told they should, but they cannot be bothered. That is the crux.’
The 87-year-old warned that it would be problematic to ask vast swathes of the population to stay at home again. She said: ‘It is hard, I did 115 days of isolating, and it is tough and quite a commitment. To do it again is perhaps putting us under too much pressure.’
Former Tory minister Ros Altmann branded the proposals ‘dangerous and wrong’, as she warned: ‘Age 50 is not old, it isn’t halfway through your adult life.’
She told how that the coronavirus crisis was ‘introducing into society a worrying element of ageism that we have worked very hard to try to overcome’.
Baroness Altmann said: ‘What we’re talking about here is a group in society that is being potentially singled out for different treatment just on the basis of their age.
‘It’s not that the over-50s are somehow old and therefore at risk and the under-50s are young and therefore not at risk.’
Environment Secretary George Eustice said sewage testing would give officials a ‘head start’ on tackling further outbreaks
Labour peer Lord Foulkes said: ‘It is both ageist and ill-thought-out. Some under-50s have underlying health conditions, while some over 50s are key to our economy.’ Dame Esther Rantzen said people of the same age cannot be lumped together as being identical.
But the 80-year-old said she would be prepared to stay at home to prevent another lockdown for all age groups.
She said: ‘Ferocious as I am in protecting older people’s rights, I think that it would be sensible to make a distinction between people in the their 20s and people like me in our 80s.
‘I don’t want people in their 20s, 30s and 40s to be restricted in what they can do because of a desire to protect me.
‘It is too high a price for the nation, it is too high a price for our young people to lock them down for my sake. I will lock myself down and if the Government make me because I’m 80, so be it.’
Official figures show that almost three quarters of the 51,264 deaths in the UK involving coronavirus were people aged over 75, with much lower mortality rates amongst those younger.
According to the Office for National Statistics, just 4,895 people aged 45 to 64 have died and 7,549 aged 65 to 74, compared to 16,586 in the 75 to 84 age bracket and 21,766 aged over 85.
Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick last night attempted to defuse the row as he insisted that talk about expanding the shielding programme was ‘just speculation’.
He added: ‘You would expect the Government to be considering all of the range of options that might be available.’
Mr Jenrick insisted that the proposals were not ‘being actively considered’, but failed to rule out them being adopted if there is a second wave.
He, however, denied that ministers were planning to shut down pubs to help reduce infection rates ahead of the re-opening of schools in September.
It comes as Chancellor Rishi Sunak heralded the start of the Treasury’s Eat Out to Help Out scheme – an offer of half-price meals during August in order to entice people out of their stay-at-home lockdown habits and into restaurants and pubs again after the hospitality sector was badly hit by the pandemic.
Some 80% of hospitality firms stopped trading in April, with 1.4 million workers furloughed – the highest of any sector – according to Government data.
The incentive will reduce bills by 50% for all eat-in meals ordered between Monday and Wednesday this month at 72,000 participating establishments, including chains such as McDonalds, Nando’s and Prezzo.
The discount per person will be capped at £10 and does not apply to alcohol.
Mr Sunak said: ‘Our Eat Out to Help Out scheme’s number one aim is to help protect the jobs of 1.8 million chefs, waiters and restaurateurs by boosting demand and getting customers through the door.
‘The industry is a vital ingredient to our economy and it’s been hit hard by coronavirus, so enjoy summer safely by showing your favourite places your support – we’ll pay half.’
Today will also mark the first working day of the week from which the Prime Minister’s new guidance applies, advising employees to return to their place of work where it has been made Covid secure and their employer agrees it is necessary.
It came as a ‘major incident’ was declared today in locked down in Greater Manchester as coronavirus cases kept going up.
With the region accounting for seven of the 20 worse hit areas of England, officials banned members of different households from mingling at home or in pubs and restaurants.