TEST AND TRACE: KEY TO OUR FREEDOM
Hancock urges Britons to do their civic duty as new NHS service is launched today ‘to thwart the virus’
A WORLD-beating test and trace programme will be rolled out in Britain today to kill off Covid-19.
Boris Johnson said the scheme – which lets people know if they have been in contact with a sufferer – will end the national restrictions.
Instead tiny local lockdowns will be put in place when the system reveals clusters of the disease. Health Secretary Matt Hancock said citizens who are contacted will have a “civic duty” to self-isolate for 14 days. But he insisted the test-and-trace system means: “We can control the virus and
ultimately defeat it.” He gave details of the programme after the Prime Minister unveiled the launch at a question-and-answer session in Downing Street yesterday.
Mr Johnson said a 25,000-strong army of contract tracers will let people know if they have been near the disease.
He added: “What we will have tomorrow will be valuable, it will be useful, it will be a very important tool in our fight against coronavirus, but it will be getting steadily better to become a truly world-beating test and trace operation in the course of the next days as we go through June.”
He admitted that quarantine will be a “huge imposition” for many people but it was essential for lifting the national lockdown.
However, it will not be mandatory, at least at the start. Mr Johnson said: “We will be asking people to stay at home. If they don’t follow that advice, what we will be saying is we will consider what sanctions may be necessary.
“To begin with, we’re asking people to do it as a matter of course. If they’re contacted by an NHS tracer, and you are told that you have been for more than 15 minutes less than two metres away from somebody who has tested positive for coronavirus, then you should self-isolate.
“It is a huge imposition, but it will be on a very small minority of the population.
“And I would just say to everybody that it’s worth it, because that is the tool that other countries have used to unlock the prison, to make sure that we can go forward.
“And so, that captivity for a tiny minority for a short time will allow us gradually to release 66 million people from the current situation.”
Afterwards the Health Secretary gave more information at the daily Downing Street press conference.
He also announced that the Government’s coronavirus testing programme will be expanded to children aged under five.
Appearing in front of a lectern with the new slogan “NHS Test and Trace” plastered on it, Mr Hancock said of the new scheme: “We all have our part to play.
“This is a national effort and we all have a role. If you have symptoms, you must isolate immediately and get yourself a test.”
He added: “The virus exists only to reproduce – that’s its sole biological purpose, to make as many copies of itself as possible. If we can thwart that purpose we can control the virus and ultimately defeat it.”
He spoke as another 412 virus deaths were announced yesterday, with nearly half of the fatalities happening outside hospitals.
It means 37,460 deaths have been linked to the virus, according to the Department of Health.
Its head, Mr Hancock, said test-and-trace would enable NHS clinicians and people with Covid-19 to work together “like detectives” to identify movements of the virus. He added: “We must all follow the NHS test and trace instructions as this is how we control the virus, protect the NHS and save lives.
“This will be voluntary at first because we trust everyone to do the right thing. But we can quickly make it mandatory if that is what it takes. If we don’t collectively make this work, then the only way forward is to keep the lockdown.”
He went on: “If you get symptoms, isolate immediately and get a test. If you are contacted by NHS test-and-trace instructing you to isolate, you must.
“It is your civic duty, so you avoid unknowingly spreading the virus and you help to break the chain of transmission.”
He also said NHS England now had the capacity to conduct 161,000 tests a day.
“Because of that increased capacity, I can announce that we’re expanding eligibility yet further.
“From tomorrow, we’re expand
ing eligibility for testing to include the under-fives so that every single person who has symptoms of coronavirus can get a test, no matter their age.”
Deputy chief medical officer Professor Jonathan Van-Tam told the briefing that the extent to which coronavirus can be kept under control depends on how well people follow the guidelines of the test and trace system.
“To put it simply, the more we do so, the greater room for manoeuvre the Government will have in terms of making life as normal as possible whilst still keeping this virus under control.”
Baroness Dido Harding, executive chair of NHS Test and Trace, said all contact tracers had been undergoing training before the start of this week.
She added: “We want people to feel safe to tell us as soon as they have symptoms, to tell us who they’ve been in contact with so we can isolate people who might be infectious as fast as possible.
“I have great faith in the British public that we all want to be able to get our lives back to normal.”