Trace system can’t tackle Covid alone, says Harding

TEST and trace by itself is not a ‘silver bullet’ to hold back coronavirus, the head of the service has told MPs.

Baroness Dido Harding, chair of NHS Test and Trace, said evidence in the UK and across Europe was that it was just one of a range of interventions needed to tackle the virus.

But she told a joint meeting of the Commons health and science committees the R number – the virus’s reproduction rate – was much lower than earlier in the pandemic due to behaviour such as washing hands and wearing masks – along with test and trace.

‘The way we have to tackle the disease is through a variety of different interventions and we are one of the ways, not the only way,’ Lady Harding (pictured) said.

Former health secretary Jeremy Hunt questioned the impact of NHS Test and Trace, saying it reached a fraction of estimated cases – largely due to asymptomatic people not being identified – with between three and 20 per cent complying with quarantine rules.

Lady Harding told him: ‘If it’s a tool that contributes to 20 per cent plus of our fight against Covid, then it’s a hugely valuable and important tool.’ She said NHS Test and Trace’s survey from the end of August until mid-September suggested 54 per cent of those asked to self-isolate complied with the rules. A payment of £500 is available for those on low incomes asked to isolate for 14 days but unable to work from home.

Lady Harding acknowledged financial pressures could be one reason why people fail to comply. But she told MPs the money on offer ‘was a decision for the government, for the prime minister and the chancellor’.