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SAGE scientists question the efficacy of the current test and trace system, which they claim has had only a “marginal impact on transmission,” has been revealed.
Experts said the £ 10bn system already needs a major overhaul due to the “relatively low level of involvement” and said its use “is likely to decline in the future”.
The findings were made in a Sept. 21 report, but have only been made public tonight amid a flurry of other coronavirus developments.
A circuit breaker was at the top of a short list of coronavirus interventions recommended to the government by expert advisers last month, but the measure was blocked.
The document said that a package of interventions will be needed to reverse the exponential increase in cases.
(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
“It is unlikely that individual interventions by themselves could bring R below one (high confidence),” the paper said, before establishing a short list of non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPI) that should be considered for “immediate” introduction. .
First on the list is a circuit breaker, a short blackout period, “to bring the incidence back to low levels,” followed by a work-from-home tip for everyone who can.
The third on the list was “banning all contact within the home with members of other households (except members of a support bubble)”, and the fourth was the closure of all bars, restaurants, cafes, indoor gyms and personal services like hairdressers.
(Image: PA)
The final measure on the list was that all college and university teaching “be online unless face-to-face teaching is absolutely essential.”
Earlier today, Keir Starmer said the Prime Minister was hurling rhetoric about the test and trace system and accused the government of “moving all over the place.”
He said: “Testing, tracking and isolating is critical.
“The Prime Minister said we would have a global system, we didn’t need it, we just need an effective one that works.
“‘Hit the world’ is just Johnson’s rhetoric.
“Get a test quickly, get the result quickly, and then get to the contacts to get self-isolation to work – that’s not working properly, which means thousands and thousands of people are walking today and should be in self-isolation.
“Then that bit needs to be fixed.”
The Labor leader added: “I think now it’s 13 or 14 U-turns.”
“If it was one or two, I think a lot of people across the country, if the government made a mistake and then turned around, they would say ‘well, that’s fair, we’re dealing with a pandemic.’
“But when you have 12, 13 or 14 U-turns, the only thing that can be interpreted is serial incompetence.”
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