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Almost half of the nearly 16,000 people with coronavirus not detected by the Test and Trace system have yet to trace their contacts, the health secretary admitted.
Ministers have blamed an “IT failure” within Public Health England (a problem with an Excel spreadsheet reaching its maximum size) for a delay in reporting 15,841 COVID-19 cases In England.
Downing Street revealed that additional contact trackers had now been developed to help track the contacts of people whose positive tests were not reported between September 25 and October 2.
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Matt Hancock said the situation was “ongoing” but the government’s assessment of the pandemic “had not changed substantially.”
The health secretary also told the Commons that just over half (51%) of the missing cases have been contacted a second time over the weekend to trace their contacts, which means that 49%, which equates to about 7,762 people, it hasn’t.
Later, the government clarified that Hancock’s “ongoing” comment did not mean that some positive cases have yet to be counted, but that work is continuing to contact the lost.
Meanwhile, a Whitehall investigation was launched to find out why the missing cases were not identified earlier.
But the prime minister was said to still have full confidence in Baroness Harding, head of the NHS ‘test and trace program.
He was questioned about the failure on Monday, and the Labor Party accused the government of overseeing a “chaotic” system.
Johnson did not give an answer when asked how many people were not tracked, but who should have, by NHS Test and Trace due to the delay in reporting infections.
“I can’t give you those figures,” he said.
“What I can say is that obviously all these people are being contacted and the key is that everyone, whether in this group or in general, should isolate themselves.
“That’s the way to make it work.”
The prime minister said that successful use of the NHS Test and Trace scheme should create a “firewall” around the incidence of infection and “help us fight the virus.”
Referring to the technology error, Johnson claimed that “some of the data was truncated” and “was lost.”
The Excel master spreadsheet reached its full capacity so it couldn’t keep adding more cases.
Officials said “quick mitigation” measures have been put in place to make sure it doesn’t happen again.
Johnson added: “What they have done now is not only contact all the people who were identified as carriers of the disease – that was done in the first place – but now they are also working with all the contacts.”
After the prime minister spoke to reporters on a visit to a sustainable energy company in London, Downing Street clarified that those who self-isolate at the request of the NHS Test and Trace scheme would receive a one-time payment of £ 500, instead of the £ 500 per week that Mr. Johnson had said during the visit.
After the incorporation of the new COVID-19 According to figures from England, the weekly rate of infections has skyrocketed in dozens of areas.
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Earlier Monday, Work and Pensions Secretary Therese Coffey was asked if other people might have been infected with COVID-19 because the NHS test and trace scheme was unaware of the nearly 16,000 cases.
“There may well be,” he told Sky News.
“I have been informed that probably most of [contact-tracing] It has happened in the last item of the week, in the last few days.
“So it is important that we act quickly and that PHE act quickly to see whether or not people should isolate themselves.
“Because I recognize that not everyone who goes through the regime will be identified by the trace and trace regime to undertake that additional self-isolation.”
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Labor MP Bridget Phillipson, the Treasury’s shadow chief secretary, accused ministers of overseeing a “chaotic” system.
“Testing, tracking and isolating just doesn’t work,” he told Sky News.
His Labor colleague Lucy Powell, a Manchester Central MP and shadow business minister, said it was “very worrying” that infection rates have been revised upward in Greater Manchester following the discovery of the computer bug.
“Local understanding of what is behind this increase is critical before we see increasingly stringent restrictions placed on us,” he posted on Twitter.
“We have already lived under local restrictions for longer (more than 2 months) than in most places.”
After speaking to Health Secretary Matt Hancock on Monday, London Mayor Sadiq Khan said the test and trace system was “disappointing London and the country.”
“Today I spoke with the secretary of health, along with mayors across the country, and reminded him that a fully functioning testing, tracking, and isolation system is the only way to control this virus, avoid further lockdown, and be able to protect our economy, “he said.
Public Health England said Sunday that all those involved received their test results and those who tested positive were advised to isolate themselves.
Deputy Medical Director Dr. Susan Hopkins told Sky News: “There is no delay in people receiving their test results.
“The delays are in reporting to the board and the public and there has been a delay in starting contact tracking.
“Public Health England apologizes for what happened and has taken steps to prevent this from happening again.”
