Photo taken on Nov. 5, 2020 shows the Tower Bridge shrouded in fog in London, Britain. (Xinhua/Han Yan)

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson selected Liverpool as a pilot area for mass testing just weeks after the city became the first to be placed in the top tier of three-levels of localized lockdown restrictions.

Liverpool's Mayor Joe Anderson has described the program as a "game changer" that should help the city get back to normal as quickly as possible.

LIVERPOOL, Britain, Nov. 5  -- As the first of 2,000 troops from Britain's armed services arrived in Liverpool Thursday to prepare for the country's first mass testing project for COVID-19, the Liverpudlians are urged to set an example for the rest of the country.

Noting that Liverpool had reportedly lost more than 600 lives to the virus since March, Matt Ashton, the city's director of Public Health, said one of the challenges with COVID-19 was not everybody who has it displays symptoms, even though they are spreading it to others.

"There are national estimates that say out of everyone who has the virus, between 75 percent and 80 percent could be asymptomatic, with no symptoms," he said in a blog published on the Liverpool Express website.

Ashton urged the 450,000 residents in Liverpool to participate in the mass testing so that the city can set an example for the rest of the country and beyond.