Coronavirus: Warnings of ‘gaping hole’ in test and trace system as it fails to contact quarter of infected people

There have been warnings of a “gaping hole” in the government’s coronavirus test and trace system, as new figures showed that for a second week running that it failed to contact a quarter of people testing positive for the illness.

Contact tracing is regarded as an essential part of the UK’s emergence from lockdown, as it allows anyone who has been near a contagious person to isolate themselves for 14 days rather than risk passing on the disease if they have themselves become infected.

Figures released by the Department of Health showed that the number of Covid-positive people reached by the NHS Test and Trace system in England, and asked to provide details of their recent contacts, fell to 4,366 in the week of 4 to 10 June, from 5,826 in the previous week.

The total was well short of the 33,000 who the Office for National Statistics (ONS) calculate were infected across England at the time, though the larger figure will include some who had been ill for a time and received tests in earlier weeks.

Some 40,690 individuals who had been identified as close contacts of infected patients were tracked down and asked to self-isolate for 14 days, compared to 46,949 in the week of 28 May to 3 June.

The Department of Health said that a total of 5,949 people who tested positive for Covid-19 were referred to the tracing scheme in the second week of operation, of whom 73.4 per cent were contacted and provided details of their movements.

The figure was up slightly from the 72 per cent achieved the previous week, but still meant that more than a quarter did not provide details of their contacts. Some 78 per cent of those contacted were reached within 24 hours, but in 7 per cent of cases it took more than 72 hours.

Some 4,205 of the contacts identified could not be reached by Test and Trace workers, and were therefore not told to self-isolate. The Department of Health said “some” contacts refused to self-isolate, despite having been in close contact with somebody who had tested positive for Covid-19. No figure was immediately available for the number of those refusing to self-isolate.

Labour said it was “hugely worrying” that more than a quarter of Covid-19 patients referred to the operation were not contacted at all.

“Expert opinion shows that to defeat this virus we need a fully functioning test and trace system, so these latest figures are hugely worrying,” said Labour health spokesperson Justin Madders.

“Having a quarter of those who test positive not contacted is a gaping hole in the system that urgently needs to be addressed.”

The week included the first major easing of lockdown restrictions, on 1 June, when some primary school children returned to the classrooms, outdoor markets and car showrooms were allowed to reopen, and groups of up to six people were permitted to gather in parks and other open spaces.

But it is understood that the number of contacts reported by members of the general public who tested positive remained at about two each, while the figure was higher for health and social care workers.

In all, some 44,895 contacts were identified, with the army of 25,000 contact tracers managing to get in touch with 90.6 per cent of them, compared to 90.5 per cent the previous week.

Test and Trace’s executive chair Dido Harding admitted the system was “not perfect”.

She told the daily Downing Street coronavirus briefing: “We have to get better at hunting out the virus. Seventy per cent of people or so who have the virus won’t show any symptoms or they will have such mild symptoms they might not spot it.

“I’m not pretending it is perfect, of course it isn’t – we all have work to do to keep honing it and improving it.”

But she added: “NHS Test and Trace is working to stop the spread of coronavirus and undoubtedly helping to save lives. Building on our previous work, this week’s data shows that tens of thousands more people who may have otherwise unwittingly spread the virus are now remaining safely at home.”

Health secretary Matt Hancock said the test and trace system had allowed officials to identify and respond to local outbreaks of coronavirus.

Mobile testing units were sent in to help control localised spikes in “parts of Leicester” and Kirklees, West Yorkshire, identified by the manual tracing system, he said.

“There are these local outbreaks, we’ve seen them all the way through.

“And we now have the system in place to be able to spot them the best we can and then take that local action.

“It is natural that as the lockdown lifts slightly, we’ve always said that the next move is for more localised action in order to tackle outbreaks where we find them,” he said

New ONS figures suggest that between 31 May and 13 June, approximately 33,000 people in England had Covid-19 at any one time – the equivalent of one out of every 1,700. The total was well down on the estimated average of 149,000 in early May.

But modelling of the trend over time shows evidence that the rate of decrease in infections since the study began on 26 April may have slowed in recent weeks.

Some 5.4 per cent of those providing blood samples for the survey tested positive for Covid-19 antibodies, which equates to about 1 in 19 people in the country having had the disease at some point.

Individuals testing positive for the coronavirus are contacted by NHS Test and Trace and asked to provide details of any places they have been to recently, including workplaces or schools, as well as the names of any people they were in close contact with in the 48 hours before symptoms started. These people are contacted and told to self-isolate for 14 days, without any test for Covid-19 being required.