Test and Trace failed to reach 30,000 people who tested positive for coronavirus in week before Christmas
The Test and Trace scheme failed to reach more than 30,000 people who tested positive for coronavirus in the week before Christmas, at the same time the government warned that a new coronavirus mutation was spreading across the country.
Latest official figures showed that 232,169 people tested positive for Covid at least once between 17 and 23 December, of which 211,914 were transferred to the government’s contact tracing scheme.
However, Test and Trace failed to reach 27,178 people who tested positive to tell them to self-isolate. A further 2,826 people with Covid did not provide the scheme with contact details.
The figure marks a significant increase on the previous week, when the government app failed to reach 16,553 people who tested positive with Covid.
The figures mean more than 30,000 Covid-infected people were not told to self-isolate just days after the health secretary announced that a new, more transmissible strain of coronavirus had been identified in the southeast of England.
A subsequent surge in cases prompted Prime Minister Boris Johnson to plunge London and its surrounding areas into Tier 4 restrictions on 19 December.
Chief medical officer Professor Chris Whitty told people who were planning on travelling home for Christmas to “unpack their bags”, as the government scrambled to contain the new B117 variant.
In a Downing Street briefing announcing the changes, Johnson told the public they “should exercise a high degree of personal responsibility” over the festive period to prevent coronavirus cases skyrocketing.
The government subsequently rolled out rapid Covid test sites across London and other cities ahead of plans to allow limited social mixing in some areas of the country over Christmas.
However, the latest official figures showed that Test and Trace returned fewer than a tenth of coronavirus results within 24 hours of testing in the week to 23 December.
Just 16.9 per cent of in-person tests, including those taken at local, mobile and regional testing hubs, were returned within 24 hours.
Meanwhile a mere 2.1 per cent of home tests kits delivered results within 24 hours, with the overwhelming majority taking more than 3 days to be returned.
It comes as the NHS Test and Trace scheme, which has so far cost the UK taxpayer more than £22bn, has faced sharp criticism for repeatedly failing to meet targets.
The Prime Minister has shrugged off calls to sack interim chief Baroness Dido Harding despite her programme failing to deter a second wave of infections across the country.
Harding’s Test and Trace has been beleaguered with hiccups since its inception seven months ago. A spreadsheet error in October meant almost 16,000 positive cases were missed and added to the nation’s coronavirus tally weeks later.
A recent £7bn funding top up from the chancellor meant the total NHS Test and Trace budget is now more than the combined budgets for England’s police and fire services, which this year will receive £15.2bn and £3bn respectively.
The £22bn figure also dwarfs the amount of cash the government has allocated for coronavirus vaccines. The UK has so far spent just £2.7bn on vaccines for Britain and low income countries.
In a scathing report last month on the programme’s performance, the UK’s spending watchdog urged ministers to “stop throwing money” at Test and Trace.
“The government needs to urgently work out what’s going wrong at every step of the process. Throwing more money at the problem clearly isn’t the answer,” said Public Accounts Committee chair Meg Hillier.
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson told City A.M: “Since the start of the pandemic, the UK’s rapid work has seen us build the biggest testing system per head of population in Europe. More cases are being reached and people are being contacted faster with over 80 per cent reached within 24 hours, compared with 77 per cent the previous week.
“Hundreds of thousands of tests are being processed every day, and more than 2.3m people have been contacted so they can self-isolate. There are now over 770 symptomatic testing sites, over 200 local contact tracing partnerships across the country and five major laboratories, with more on the way.”
The spokesperson added: “It is vital everyone continues to play their part by following the rules and remembering the ‘hands, face, space’ guidance, and coming forward for community testing if it is offered locally.”