Test and trace system ‘will help officials to get on the front foot’

A YORKSHIRE council chief executive who is leading the local roll-out of the Government’s test and trace programme says the scheme will allow officials to “get on the front foot” in tackling coronavirus outbreaks.

Leeds City Council chief executive Tom Riordan said the city, where there have been no coronavirus deaths reported in the last four days, was now well-equipped to deal with the virus.

The NHS Test and Trace system – seen as key to easing lockdown restrictions – has been rolled out across England with the help of 25,000 contact tracers. However, MPs said they were told the programme would not be operational at a local level until the end of next month, while an accompanying app is delayed by several weeks.

The Department for Health also admitted that “some staff initially encountered issues logging on to their systems” yesterday.

Local authorities will eventually work with the test and trace service to ensure testing is deployed to high-risk areas if an outbreak is reported.

The Government announced £300m in funding for councils on Friday to develop outbreak control plans to help them achieve this. But Chris Hopson, chief executive of NHS Providers, which represents trusts in England, said the Government had commissioned the local authority plans “awfully late”.

Mr Riordan, whose job is to ensure that arrangements for linking contact tracing work effectively at local level, said there was now “a strong local element” to the service.

He said each council is expected to have a “local plan” drawn up by the end of June, detailing how it would deal with further outbreaks in future.

He said: “We will need to expand the amount of people who are asked to self-isolate having had a positive test, but the people they have had close contact with for more than 15 minutes will be at risk of having the infection as well.

“It will slow the spread of the virus, and as numbers reduce in Leeds, this gives us a better chance of almost getting on the front foot in tackling the outbreaks of the virus, rather than reacting as we have been previously. It is a big step forward in launching the service.

“It is a big move because places around the world that have been successful in keeping the virus under control have introduced this sort of service.

“We are very early into the idea of local plans – we will see more improvements in data, so people will see where the virus is in their local area.”

Meanwhile, TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady warned that the Test and Trace system will fail to work effectively if statutory sick pay is not increased.

Those self-isolating will be eligible for statutory sick pay but there are fears that many workers will not be able to afford to isolate and will be forced to keep working.

It will slow the spread of the virus, and as numbers reduce in Leeds.

Leeds City Council chief executive Tom Riordan.