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Test And Trace Hits New Low With Worst 'Contact Tracing' Rate Since Service Began

Boris Johnson’s Test and Trace service has reported its worst ever figures for tracking down “close contacts” of people with Covid.

As well as thousands of cases going missing due to an IT blunder, the controversial system hit a new low with just 68.8% of cases in England being reached and told to self-isolate to stop the spread of the virus.

Government experts have advised that the whole system can only work effectively if at least 80% of “close contacts” are actually tracked down and told to quarantine.

“Close contacts” are defined as those who have spent more than 15 minutes within two metres of a positive Covid case.

Latest figures for the week between September 24 and 30 confirmed the “September surge” in coronavirus cases across the country, with 51,475 people testing positive for the first time – a 56% increase compared to the previous week.

The so-called “NHS Test and Trace” system, which is headed by Tory peer and former TalkTalk phone giant boss Dido Harding, has been dogged by criticism since it began earlier this year, with many attacking its use of private firms like Serco and Deloitte.

Although it has managed to dramatically increase testing capacity from 2,000 a day to around 300,000 a day, its performance on getting tests to those who need them has remained under fire.

The new figures show that the proportion of Covid cases it reached overall went backwards, down to 74%, as did 24-hour turnaround times.

This week’s 68.8% “close contact” rate – taking into account all the cases’ contacts who were identified – was down from 71.6% the week before and is now the worst since the system was launched back in May.

On testing, too, the system is getting worse and is nearly back at its all-time lows of a fortnight ago.

Boris Johnson promised 100% of in-person tests would be done in 24 hours by the end of June.

But Thursday’s figures show that for in-person tests – done at local test sites, mobile testing units and regional test...

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