Prognosis
Europe Finds Mass Testing Is No Solution for the Coronavirus
- Labs under strain from deluge in demand for Covid tests
- Getting the infected to self-isolate prompts tough U.K. fines
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When the coronavirus swept across Europe this spring, overwhelming hospitals and killing thousands each day, only the sickest patients could be tested, leaving health officials in the dark about how widely Covid-19 had spread.
Six months on, with the virus surging again, authorities can point to dramatically expanded testing capacity. Britain alone carried out some 1.3 million tests in a recent week -- a 20-fold increase from early April. France and Spain, Covid hotspots, have likewise increased their capabilities.