[ad_1]
Only 59.9% of close contacts of people who tested positive for coronavirus were contacted by the NHS Test and Trace in the week ending October 28, figures show.
This is the second-lowest weekly percentage on the plan so far, down from 60.6% in the seven days through October 21.
During the same period, 137,180 people tested positive for coronavirus in England, which is 8% more than the previous week.
Use the Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
When cases were handled by local health teams in England, 97.9% of contacts were able to be contacted and told to self-isolate in that week, while cases handled online or by call centers recorded a rate of only 58.5%.
The figures cover the same week where thousands of people were given the wrong dates for self-isolation by Test and Trace after a software error.
Only 26.4% of people who took the test in England on a regional, local or mobile site got their result in 24 hours, slightly more than 22.6% the previous week.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson had previously promised that the in-person evidence would be returned within 24 hours by the end of June.
Speaking in the House of Commons on June 3, he made the promise of the end of the month, barring “difficulties with postal proofs or insurmountable problems like that.”
During the Prime Minister’s Inquiries, Johnson admitted that there had been problems with the service, but that he was proud that it was up and running so quickly.
Wednesday, UK reported another 492 coronavirus-related deaths, which is the highest daily total since May 19, along with 25,177 positive tests.
England was on lockdown on Thursday, with nonessential businesses, pubs, restaurants and gyms shutting down as the government tries to stem the rise in coronavirus infections.
Analysis: ‘Not good, but the increase in cases makes it difficult’
By Rowland Manthorpe, Technology Correspondent
Test and Trace figures for the last week of October confirm what we already suspected: As cases rose, contact trackers struggled to cope.
An overall percentage of 59.9% for contacts reached is not the lowest number on Test and Trace, but only: three weeks ago, that record was set at 59.6%. The absolute numbers are higher, so it is a bit unfair to compare percentages between weeks, but it is clear that a large proportion of people are still missing. That’s not good.
It’s easy to blame Test and Trace, which has certainly made a lot of mistakes. (This week alone I revealed that I had given over 7,000 people the wrong dates for self-isolation.) However, in truth, the real culprit is the increasing number of positive cases.
Between October 22 and 28, contact trackers were asked to reach 327,203 people, a 16% increase from the previous week. No system in the world could handle numbers like this on a regular basis.
International comparisons confirm this very clearly. It’s not just that their numbers dropped; as they were put under stress, they experienced the kind of embarrassing mistake we have become accustomed to in England.
Did you know that Irish contact trackers recently asked 2,000 people to do their own tracking? Or that Germany “lost” the test data for days after a crash?
The Test and Trace system is definitely flawed, but it is not entirely bad, nor are its problems exceptionally unusual. You now have a month to improve. You need to take the opportunity
