The British government said Wednesday it will launch its coronavirus "test and trace" service across England on Thursday, a key pillar in its strategy to ease a nationwide lockdown introduced in late March.
The new service will allow anyone with virus symptoms to be tested, and those who have been in close contact with someone showing positive results to be traced and told to isolate for 14 days, even if they have no symptoms.
The government has hired 25,000 dedicated staff and aims to be able to trace the contacts of 10,000 people a day, which it said could be scaled up if needed.