NHS Test and Trace missed almost 140,000 Covid contacts last week
England’s beleaguered Test and Trace system failed to reach 40 per cent of people who came into contact with coronavirus last week, meaning almost 140,000 people required to self-isolate did not do so.
Figures released today by the Department for Health and Social Care showed that NHS Test and Trace only managed to tell 60.3 per cent of almost 350,000 people who came into contact with the virus between 12 November and 18 November to self-isolate.
The figure meant the government app failed to reach just shy of 138,000 Covid contacts, and came close to the record low of 59.6 per cent seen at the end of last month.
It comes after leaked documents last week unveiled plans from Test and Trace bosses to “rebuild public trust” among local councils, as the app repeatedly fails to meet targets.
The Prime Minister has shrugged off calls to sack NHS Test and Trace chief Baroness Dido Harding despite her programme failing to deter a second wave of infections across the country.
Harding’s Test and Trace has been beleaguered with hiccups since its inception six months ago. A spreadsheet error last month meant almost 16,000 positive cases were missed and added to the nation’s coronavirus tally weeks later.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak yesterday unveiled a further £7bn for the contact tracing system, taking its total funding to £22bn since the start of the pandemic.
The figure means NHS Test and Trace’s budget is now more than the combined budgets for England’s police and fire services, which this year will receive £15.2bn and £3bn respectively.
The funding for the Test and Trace programme also dwarfs the amount of cash the government has allocated for coronavirus vaccines.
The UK has so far spent just £2.7bn on vaccines for the UK and low income countries. Sunak yesterday topped up the vaccine spending pot by £738m — just over a tenth of that provided to NHS Test and Trace.
Commenting on the new tier system set to replace England’s national lockdown next Wednesday, business leaders warned that a clear path out of the pandemic will rely on huge improvements to the Test and Trace system.
Richard Burge, chief executive of London Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said: “Consumer confidence, and indeed the nation’s chances of managing the R rate until a vaccine is ready, hinges on Test and Trace.
“We need the world class system that we were promised, where is it? The Prime Minister’s strategy cannot simply be to wait for the vaccine ‘cavalry’ to arrive.”
The app’s poor performance has forced the bulk of London boroughs to pick up the slack by deploying council leaders to call local residents who may have come into contact with the virus.
Analysis by Morning Wire last week revealed that almost two-thirds of London boroughs have departed from the national contact tracing scheme.
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said: “NHS Test and Trace is breaking chains of transmission thanks to local and national teams working hand in glove — over 2m people who may otherwise have unknowingly spread coronavirus have been contacted and told to isolate.
“We are continuously seeking to improve the service, as well as our vital local relationships. There are now over 150 local contact tracing partnerships across the country with more to come, and we are going further by sending out hundreds of thousands of rapid lateral flow tests to local authorities across England.”