Test and trace system tells 26,985 to self-isolate in first week

By:

Add as a preferred source on Google
England’s new track and tracing system was able to contact two-thirds of the people who tested positive for coronavirus and were referred to it in its first week, and then succeeded in contacting 85 per cent of their contacts to ask them to self-isolate.
England’s new track and tracing system was able to contact two-thirds of the people who tested positive for coronavirus and were referred to it in its first week, and then succeeded in contacting 85 per cent of their contacts to ask them to self-isolate.

England’s new track and tracing system was able to contact two-thirds of the people who tested positive for coronavirus and were referred to it in its first week, and then succeeded in contacting 85 per cent of their contacts to ask them to self-isolate.

Of the 8,117 who were transferred to the system, 2,710 were not reached and did not provide details of their recent contacts, illustrating the challenge faced by a programme which is seen as a key tool to help loosen blanket lockdown measures.

A smartphone tracking app will be added to the programme in coming weeks, although the government has not specified when.

Releasing its first data, the Department of Health’s test and trace programme said it reached 31,794 contacts of the original positive cases between 28 May and 3 June, and of those it was able to reach 26,985, or 85%, and advise them to self-isolate.

Each person who tested positive and was traced had the equivalent of 5.9 contacts per person.

The government recruited around 25,000 contact tracers for the test and trace programme in England. They began working at the end of May.

Today’s figures from the NHS, covering 28 May to 3 June, are the first indication of how England’s test and trace scheme is progressing.

Tracers contact those with coronavirus symptoms who test positive to log onto the NHS Test and Trace  website. Their close contacts are then asked to stay home for 14 days, even if they do not exhibit symptoms.

However, a third of people who tested positive for coronavirus over the initial week could not be contacted, or would not tell test and trace volunteers who their close contacts were.

The test and trace system is part of England’s strategy to help ease the coronavirus lockdown by identifying people with coronavirus and preventing them from passing it on.

Baroness Harding, the head of the test and trace programme, admitted the scheme is not yet at the “gold standard” but said it was now a “functioning service”.