Test and trace ‘ overwhelmed’ by the return to schools and offices

URGING WORKERS to return to the office at the same time as reopening schools is jeopardising the test and trace system’s ability to cope, a leading public health expert has warned.

Professor Devi Sridhar, from the University of Edinburgh, said she was concerned about the UK Government’s campaign to encourage people back into offices coinciding with pupils’ return because the testing system in Scotland struggled with a surge of demand when schools reopened

It comes as schools across large parts of Yorkshire prepare for pupils returning this week, with a senior councillor in Leeds saying schools are “the lynchpin” in getting back to some sort of normality for families, the economy and ultimately the country

And a primary school in the city – which has now moved onto the national watchlist after a rise in Covid- 19 cases – will not be able to open to all pupils after a member of staff tested positive

Ms Sridhar, who is an adviser to the Scottish Government, told Sky News that a fast, effective test and trace system was key to keeping the infection rate low and suppression of the virus was vital to enable economic recovery.

“I’m a little bit worried about the back to office push alongside the back to school push,” she said.

“What we’ve seen in Scotland over the past few weeks is the testing system has just been really having to race to catch up with the demand of all the children coming home with coughs and colds and fevers.

“If you add on top of that all the adults going back into offices and having those as well your testing system is really under strain.

“So you have to get ready and get your testing system going so people get the results fast enough and the tracing teams can get going.”

In Leeds the city council’s education spokesman, Jonathan Pryor, says children going back to school are crucial to the recovery of the city and country post lockdown. Over the last few months schools have been planning for this week’s return to the classroom amid changing guidelines and exam chaos.

But Coun Pryor, Leeds City Council’s Executive Member for

Learning, Skills and Employment, said teachers were excited to return and that now is the right time in order for young people to develop educationally and socially.

There have been risk assessments, guidelines to follow that are still evolving with the main focus on health and safety – but there is also a real fear about the impact so much time off will have had on pupils of all ages.

He said: “I want to pay tribute to the mammoth task that teachers and headteachers have undertaken over summer to make sure schools are as safe as they can possibly be.

“It is a bigger job than government expected and I don’t think they appreciate how much more difficult they have made it.”

The testing system has just been really having to race to catch up Professor Devi Sridhar, from the University of Edinburgh on problems in Scotland