Sort disgrace of test and trace

CAN the Government’s handling of the pandemic get any more farcical? After the lack of PPE for our frontline NHS staff and care workers, the discharging of patients into care homes, the test and trace fiasco and the MPs and advisers who broke the rules, now we have the news that between September 25 and October 2 the numbers of positive cases was under-reported by around 16,000, meaning that up to 50,000 contacts have not been traced.

Given how fast the second wave is spreading, chief scientific adviser Patrick Val lance’s doomsday prediction of 50,000 cases a day towards the end of this month could turn out to be prophetic. The Government needs to get its act together, otherwise we could be looking at 200,000-plus deaths over the winter months. Ashley Smith, March, Cambs

Isn’t it about time that Boris Johnson and his Cabinet admitted they’ve lost control? After a long list of failures, now they don’t even have a computer program which can handle large files.

They should do the honourable thing and form a government of national unity of people who know what they’re doing, be they SNP, Lib Dem or Labour, instead of this lot of old-school chums trying to run things.

Arthur Wood Kippax, Leeds

■ How is Matt Hancock still in his job when he has presided over a catalogue of errors from the start? Now 50,000 people could be

spreading the virus without knowing they’re a danger because of this latest blunder.

This degree of failure is not acceptable on any level. The British public deserve so much better than this. How many more will die because of the Government’s disastrous handling of this crisis? L Owens, Leeds

Why is it called a glitch when the Government or its agencies get it wrong, but incompetence when it’s outside of government? Boris told us back in May that we would have a “world-beating” test and trace system, but the only thing that seems to be world-beating about this Government is its avoidance of the truth and lack of competent leadership.

David Lewis, Cwmdare

Mid Glamorgan

The only strategy that works against the spread of Covid-19 is test and trace and the UK still can’t get it right. This lot don’t know what they are doing – anyone who works in IT is stunned they are still using an outdated version of Excel. You couldn’t make it up.

Andrew Burgess, Sheffield

Since the beginning of the Covid-19 crisis, I have been calling this Tory Government a bunch of incompetent chimps. I now realise this was wrong – I would like to apologise to chimps for bringing their species into disrepute!

Gary Thompson Kirkby-in-Ashfield, Notts

A reported £10billion spent on test and trace and PHE is still using old software. Why? Lives are being put at risk because of it.

R Boyd, Southampton