Quarter of positive cases vanish under tracing system

THE NHS test and trace system has worsened when it comes to warning people to self-isolate after coming into contact with positive coronavirus cases, latest figures indicate.

Data for the third week of the new system to get England out of lockdown revealed that 82 per cent of close contacts were reached and advised to selfisolate between June 11 and 17, compared with 91 per cent the week before.

Meanwhile only 70 per cent (4,869 out of 6,923) of those who tested positive and were uploaded onto the system were then contacted by volunteers.

Officials running the scheme said the easing of lockdown had made it harder to get in touch with named close contacts as they were less likely to be at home. Volunteer shifts have been altered so close contacts can be called when they were most likely to respond.

Since the start of the programme on May 28, 72.6 per cent of positive cases were reached – 15,225 out of 20,968.

The news came amid the continued row over a failed project to build an independent NHS contact tracing app. It showed that in the scheme’s third week, 1,791 people – 25.9 per cent – could not be reached by volunteers. An additional 263 people could not be reached at all because no communica- tion details had been provided.

Since the start of the programme, 113,925 people, representing 88.6 per cent, were identified as recent close contacts and reached through the contract tracing system, out of 128,566 people reported.

Keith Neal, emeritus professor of the Epidemiology of Infectious Diseases at the University of Nottingham, said the number of people believed to be Covid19-positive was much higher than that indicated by the number of tests, meaning more people needed to come forward for testing.

He said: “One in four positive people can’t be contacted – this is surprising and worrying – these people need to provide details to get the result of their tests and they have a responsibility to be contactable – they should anyway be isolating at home, and so easier to get hold of.”

Baroness Harding, the executive chairman of NHS Test and Trace, said: “In just three weeks, NHS Test and Trace has already reached more than 100,000 people who may have otherwise unknowingly spread the virus.

“The strength of the system lies not just in our thousands of trained tracers, but in the public playing their part.”