The Prime Minister is expected to announce the plan today, according to reports. The £7 billion pound mass testing scheme will allegedly allow people to spend less time in self-isolation, even if they have come into contact with someone with Covid-19.
It comes as Mr Johnson aims to fight off significant opposition within the Conservative Party over plans to enforce a stricter three-tier lockdown policy once the current period ends after December 2.
Resistance to the PM’s plans has been outlined in a letter from the Covid Recovery Group, or CRG.
Signed by 70 Conservative rebels, the letter demands an analysis how the benefits of the tougher tiered system weigh up, warning of “huge health and economic costs”.
The letter reads: “There is no doubt that Covid is a deadly disease to many and it is vital that we control its spread effectively.
“But we must give equal regard to other lethal killers like cancer, dementia, and heart disease, to people’s mental health, and all the health implications of poverty and falling GDP.
“The tiered restrictions approach in principle attempts to link virus prevalence with measures to tackle it, but it’s vital we remember always that even the tiered system of restrictions infringes deeply upon people’s lives with huge health and economic costs.”
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The paper adds people will be “released from the system” if they are able to produce seven days of negative test results.
Trials are due to be carried out in Liverpool in the north-west, where the army personnel are already aiming to conduct mass-testing of the entire city.
The mass testing plans are part of the Government’s Covid Winter Plan, which Mr Johnson will detail in a press statement today.
Meanwhile, Analysts say the rebel group could also prove to be a hurdle for Mr Johnson if he plans to enact a third national lockdown in future.
Mark Harper, former Government Chief Whip, is head of the CRG, which launched on Tuesday last week.
Earlier this month, he told The Telegraph: “The country is badly in need of a different and enduring strategy for living with the virus that doesn’t require us to keep living under a series of damaging lockdowns and seemingly arbitrary restrictions.
“Lockdowns and restrictions cause immense economic, social and non-Covid health damage.”
However, speaking to Sky News recently, Chancellor Rishi Sunak suggested the Government would not be meeting the demands of the Tory rebel group.
Mr Sunak is also due publish his spending review on Wednesday which he has said will highlight “enormous strain” on the economy.
