Pressure builds to sack head of Test and Trace

The UK Government is resisting pressure to sack the head of NHS Test and Trace amid deepening concern among ministers and MPs that the system is failing to stem the spread of coronavirus.

No r t h e r n Ir e l a n d Secretary Brandon L e wis insisted that Baroness Dido Harding was doing “a very good job” after one senior Conservative MP called for her to be replaced by a senior military commander.

Ho w e v e r, Labour warned her position was “untenable” as it emerged ministers were considering cutting the time people have to self-isolate if they have been in contact with someone who has the disease because of concerns over public compliance.

At the same time it was reported that Boris Johnson has become “disillusioned” with the data he is receiving from Test and Trace after some of the figures he was given turned out to be inaccurate.

Mr Lewis rejected calls for Lady Harding – who is a Conservative peer – to be dismissed, a l though he acknowledged that the service needed to improve.

“We want to see it improve, we want to see it grow and get better and better. That’s how we fight this virus. But actually I think Dido and the team have done a very good job to get to where we are,” he said.

Ho w e v e r, in a scathing attack, senior Tory backbencher Sir Bernard Jenkin said there was a “vacuum of leadership” at the top of the organisation and that public co-operation was “breaking down”.

The row comes after the Test and Trace system last week hit a record low with just 59.6% of the contacts of people who tested positive for the disease being successfully contacted and told to self-isolate.