Get well moon. A Covid mass-testing pilot scheme for Liverpool

Boris Johnson earlier this year pitched operation ‘Moonshot’ to the public. The plan involves delivering a staggering ten million tests each day. Details have now been released of a mass-testing pilot scheme in Liverpool, which will determine whether mass population screening is feasible. A variety of test types and the army will be deployed in the city to offer every resident (around 500,000 people) a test, whether they have symptoms or not. The plan is to make repeat testing available, with Labour mayor Joe Anderson explaining this morning that this could mean tests for people “every week to ten days”. The announcement follows sustained pressure on the government over its failing test and trace system as England heads into its second lockdown later this week.

And Labour is keeping up that pressure on the government today, calling for a six-month plan outlining future support packages to run alongside any further public health measures. Anneliese Dodds has demanded the Chancellor the “stop last-minute scramble” on economic support characteristic of the Tory response to the pandemic. The Shadow Chancellor will use an urgent question today to press Rishi Sunak on the issue. The opposition is maintaining its focus on the favourite to replace Johnson, as also shown in Keir Starmer’s speech to the CBI on Monday. The controversial overseas operation bill comes back to parliament later today. Labour abstained at second reading last month – with 18 MPs breaking the whip to vote against the bill – but is preparing to vote against this afternoon.

Voting has begun across the pond in the US election. Or more accurately, some people who haven’t already cast their ballot by post are heading to polling stations. The polls have Donald Trump as the underdog with aggregators showing a 6.7 to 8.4-point advantage for Joe Biden. But the Republican President is doing better in some key battlegrounds, behind by just 1.7 points in Florida, for example. It looks to be a record-breaking turnout, with 98 million votes already counted. Around a quarter of those are people who did not vote in 2016 and 8% are voting for the first time. With so many voting by post, it could take weeks to know the outcome. But Trump is planning to declare victory today, before results from key states have been determined. As one commentator put it, this is equivalent to a coach announcing a win for their team at half time.