The latest on the coronavirus pandemic: Live updates - CNN

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Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson speaks during a virtual press conference inside 10 Downing Street in central London on October 31, 2020 to announce new lockdown restrictions in an effort to curb rising infections of the novel coronavirus Alberto Pezzali/Pool/AFP/Getty Images

Experts in the UK have questioned the Prime Minister's promise of mass community testing, saying it could be a "distraction" from other priorities, like the planning and rolling out of vaccines.

Liverpool is offering mass testing to its 500,000 residents, something which Boris Johnson would like to see implemented to all areas in tier 3 after the current lockdown ends next Wednesday.

This might not be possible due to the cost and resources needed, said the Association of Directors of Public Health (ADPH) and the Faculty of Public Health (FPH) in a joint statement on Friday.

"There is an enormous price tag attached to this programme, and the resources and capacity needed come at a time of overwhelming and competing priorities, including making sure all those who are symptomatic get tested and self-isolate to planning and rolling out vaccines," read the statement.

Lateral flow testing, a rapid turnaround test that can process coronavirus samples on site without the need for laboratory equipment, was also piloted in Liverpool. However the ADPH and FPH warned the UK government that these pilots are still at an early stage and the reliability and accuracy of the tests "in different circumstances is evolving."

The leading UK health bodies also said setting up and managing the testing sites alone has required enormous "additional logistical capacity." Replicating this across the country at the same speed would be "difficult to envisage," they added.

They said that improving NHS Test and Trace must be the priority for testing.

"There is an enormous price tag attached to this programme, and the resources and capacity needed come at a time of overwhelming and competing priorities, including making sure all those who are symptomatic get tested and self-isolate to planning and rolling out vaccines," the ADPH and FPH concluded.

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