Test and Trace chief refuses to disclose tracked contact figures
THE head of NHS Test and Trace has been criticised for refusing to disclose how many new coronavirus cases are having their contacts tracked.
Baroness Harding repeatedly declined to reveal the figure to the health committee, arguing it was “not and therefore misleading.
It follows reports of leaked documents indicating that fewer than half of those whose details have been handed to the new organisation have been contacted. The success of the scheme as a route out of lockdown depends on the speed with which staff can identify and get in touch with those who have recently come into close contact with new Covid-19 patients in order to them to isolate.
Lady Harding said that “thousands” had been contacted within the first six days of the scheme. But Jeremy Hunt, chairman of the committee and a former health secretary, warned her that failing to disclose what proportion of new cases had had their contacts traced within 24 hours could “destroy confidence in it [test and trace] because it will make people think that actually the reason the data is not being shared is because it’s not terribly good”. In response, the former chief executive of Talktalk cited a recent warning from the UK Statistics Authority to Matt Hancock, the Health Secretary.
“I just think it’s really important that we give you validated data, and I don’t think there’s any citizen service of this scale that would launch and within six days share 24-hours turnaround data.”
Declaring himself “quite disappointed”, Mr Hunt said: “We were told it was going to be a world-beating system, and I don’t think it’s unreasonable for us to ask quite simple questions like what proportion of new cold cases have been contacted within 24 hours.”
Lady Harding admitted that only 1,600 people received a positive diagnosis on Tuesday, despite Office for National Statistics figures indicating that there are at least 8,000 new cases a day.