The government’s contact-tracing programme failed to reach almost 30 per cent who tested positive for the coronavirus in England last week, the latest figures show.
Only 70 per cent of the 6,923 people who tested positive for Covid-19 during the period were reached by NHS Test and Trace staff, according to the Department of Health and Social Care.
This means that 2,054 people with the virus – and potentially thousands of their close contacts – could not be traced by the new system.
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The figures also show only 73 per cent of almost 21,000 people who tested positive were reached and asked to provide details of contacts since the system was set up at the end of May. Some 24 per cent of people who tested positive during the three-week period were not reached.
The fact one in four people with the virus had not been reached since the launch was “surprising and worrying”, said Prof Keith Neal, emeritus professor of the epidemiology of infectious diseases at the University of Nottingham.
The number of people not fully traced by the system includes those staff were unable to contact because there had been no response to text, email and call reminders, and those who were reached but declined to give details of close contacts.
Prof Neal said: “There are number of issues currently with the system – these can only be sorted by members of the public, as it requires individuals to take the appropriate actions to reduce spread.”
He added: “The number of people who are thought to have Covid-19 is much higher than the numbers testing positive – more people need to come forward for testing that is now much easier to access.”
Those running the test and trace service argued that it was still early days in its operation, and needed continued co-operation from the public to help get to grips with the pandemic.
“In just three weeks, NHS Test and Trace has already reached more than one hundred thousand people who may have otherwise unknowingly spread the virus,” said Baroness Dido Harding, in charge of the system.
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“It will take all of us working together to stop the spread of the virus in our communities and that will continue to be true as the country starts to open up again.”
Since the programme’s launch on 28 May, it has reached 113,925 close contacts of the 21,105 people who have tested positive for the coronavirus, said the Department of Health.
The test and trace data released on Thursday still doesn’t include the total turnaround time for a person with suspected symptoms to get tested and then be contacted by tracers.
The government’s SAGE advisers have said this needs to be done within 48 hours of symptoms appearing, allowing laboratories to complete tests and report results within 24 hours so contact tracers can speak to those infected and receive details of contacts.
Baroness Harding said work was ongoing to produce this data in coming weeks.
On Wednesday Boris Johnson insisted that a “cluster-busting operation” would quickly tackle localised coronavirus outbreaks and defended the test and trace system, even though the promised app now appears a distant prospect.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer confronted the prime minister over his claim that no country has a working contact-tracing app – pointing out that Germany’s equivalent had been downloaded 12 million times after a successful launch.
Health secretary Matt Hancock refused to give a date on when the contact-tracing app would be made available, but said the government is “going to make it work”.
Speaking to ITV’s Robert Peston, Mr Hancock said people will have to “self-declare” to the NHS if their phone informs them they have been close to someone who has tested positive.
