Alarm at curbs on ‘successful’ local test and tracing teams

CONTACT tracers have been told to stop passing on cases detected in schools to public health teams.

Local teams have had much more success at tracing contacts than NHS Test and Trace, despite the Tories funding outsourcing firms such as Serco.

Now school and nursery cases will be dealt with by central tracers unless there is clear evidence it is part of a wider outbreak.

Campaigners say local teams are struggling with the workload and want them properly funded. They fear outbreaks at schools are now more likely to be missed. The Government denies school infections are being downgraded.

Paediatrician Dr John Puntis, chair of Keep Our NHS Public, said: “This is very worrying and reduces the capability to control spread.”

Latest figures show that local health protection teams are reaching 97% of contacts of people who test positive. The national system manages less than 70%.