Test and trace was not a waste of money

NIGEL Starbuck (“Flat row might well bring Boris down”, Opinion, May 4) in his criticism of the Government states that £36 billion was spent on test and trace, and was a waste of money. This statement is from a social media source, and is often quoted, but it is factually incorrect. The figure is actually £37 billion and is the budget for a period of two years. Up to November 2020 the actual spend was £5.7bn.

To suggest that this was a complete waste of money is nonsense. May I remind Nigel that, at the outset of the pandemic, the mantra of the World Health Organisation was “test, test, test”. Whilst countries like South Korea had community testing capability ready to roll out, the rest of the world had very little capacity, resulting in no real knowledge as to the level of infection in most countries. Here in the UK a capability of carrying out half a million PCR tests a day was built up. A year later the total PCR tests have reached almost 90 million, and around 85 percent of the total expenditure to date has been on testing.

It is generally recognised that the UK tracing service has had limited effectiveness. But comparisons with other countries can be misleading. Whilst Singapore and South Korea are often cited as having effective tracing, their tracing teams have access to cellphone, CTV and bank transactions. This level of surveillance would not be acceptable in Europe or North