British public asked to do their 'civic duty' to get the country out of lockdown

The British public will be asked to do its “civic duty” to get the country out of lockdown as the Government confirms its new “test and trace” scheme will rely on individuals to “do the right thing”.

From Thursday, anyone with symptoms of coronavirus will be tested and, if they are found to be positive, told to hand over details of anyone with whom they have had close contact.

These people will then receive a text (below), email or phone call telling them to enter self-isolation for up to 14 days - and to book their own test if symptoms develop. Even if the test returns negative they will be asked to continue isolating.

Announcing the new scheme on Wednesday night, Boris Johnson, admitted that it was a "huge imposition" on the British public.

He said that it would be voluntary at first,  but warned that it could become mandatory with fines for those who did not comply with the quarantine or failed to hand over details of their friends and family.

Mr Johnson made the announcement in front of an MPs' committee during which he was again questioned on the conduct of Dominic Cummings, his special adviser, who drove to Durham from London during lockdown in an apparent breach of the guidelines.

The Prime Minister said that it was time to "move on" from that debate and denied the episode could lead to Britons being less likely to make the sacrifices now being asked of them.

However, it emerged that Penny Mordaunt, the paymaster general, told a constituent in an email that she believed Mr Cummings had  "undermined key public health messages".

Mr Johnson denied that the Cummings episode would make the public "far less energetic" about adhering to the new system.

Today the Prime Minister will formally review the lockdown rules which were imposed on Britain nine weeks ago. Mr Johnson also suggested that he could drop the coronavirus alert level from four to three, allowing for some lockdown relaxations.

In his announcement, Mr Johnson said the new test and trace system would  place a burden on a "tiny minority" of people, but would ultimately free up to 66 million people from lockdown.

He said: "It is a huge imposition, but it will be on a very small minority of the population.

"And I would just say to everybody that it's worth it, because that is the tool that other countries have used to unlock the prison, to make sure that we can go forward.

"And so, that captivity for a tiny minority for a short time will allow us gradually to release 66 million people from the current situation so I do think it's the right way forward."

The system could see up to 10,000 people a day receive text messages or phone calls warning they have been near a person who has tested positive. It was supposed to be backed by an app, which would mean those who have been in close proximity to those who test positive would be automatically contacted, and urged to self-isolate.

But its rollout has been repeatedly delayed, with officials last night refusing to commit to any date for its launch.

On Wednesday the Health Secretary said testing and tracing must become “a new way of life” in order to protect households across the country.

Matt Hancock said people had a “civic duty” to follow instructions to self isolate. He said: “This will be voluntary at first, because we trust everyone to do the right thing. But we can quickly make it mandatory if that’s what it takes.”

Mr Johnson said fines could be introduced for people who fail to comply. He told the Liaison Committee: "We will be asking people to stay at home. If they don't follow that advice, what we will be saying is we will consider what sanctions may be necessary."

The system will see people with symptoms tested and then provided with a result within days. Yesterday,  Dame Dido Harding, head of NHS Test and Trace, said that currently 84 per cent of tests return results in 24 hours while 95 per cent provide results within 48 hours.

If the results are positive the person will be put in touch with one of an army of 25,000 contact tracers who will ask for details of 'close contacts'.

Close contacts will be defined as anyone who has been within two metres of an infected person for at least 15 minutes. It comes amid concerns that some people may be reluctant to hand over contact details of friends, family or colleagues, fearing repercussions by those who face financial losses from two weeks off work.

There are also fears that individuals could be falsely named maliciously, in a bid to settle old scores. Baroness Harding said the system of manual tracking would “enable the vast majority of us to be able to get on with our lives in a much more normal way.”

“It requires all of us to do our civic duty … trading national lockdown for individual isolation”, she said - suggesting that compliance by those who get the call would allow 60 million people to be released from mass restrictions.

Dame Dido said she had “great faith and confidence in the British public's desire to play their part” in getting the country back on its feet.

“We all want to get back to a life, which is much more like normal, and this is one of the key elements that will enable us to start to release lockdown. So I actually have great faith that people will … want to know whether they've got the disease and they will want to play their part in protecting their family, their friends and their local community,” she said.

“We’re not launching this with fines and penalties for people who don't self-isolate or who don't give us their contacts. What we're doing is asking everyone to play their part.”

Modelling for the Scientific Advisory Group on Emergencies (Sage) has warned that unless testing is speeded up, the system could cut new infections by as little as five per cent.

The study by Data Evaluation and Learning for Viral Epidemics (Delve) group, which has been handed to Sage, suggests improvements in testing turnaround times could increase this to 15 per cent.

Prof John Newton, national co-ordinator of Test and Trace said it would be “very difficult” to achieve a fast turnaround for home tests, and said those contacted by the scheme would be sent to drive through sites and testing centres wherever possible.

He also suggested officials expect mistakes to be made as the scheme is rolled out, saying “clearly, when you launch something of this size, something will go wrong somewhere along the line”.

Prof Newton urged the public “to bear with us as there may be some glitches” saying he was confident that the “basic programme is very solid”.

The Prime Minister denied that Mr Cummings’ decision to bring his family to Durham while they were supposed to be self-isolating could mean the public are less likely to comply with the demands.

It came after Conservative MP Simon Hoare suggested the nation will be "far less energetic" about obeying future restrictions as "a direct result of the activities of your senior adviser".

Mr Johnson said: "If, just suppose for a second that you were right, which I don't accept, all the more reason now for us to be consistent and clear in our message driving those key messages."

One senior Tory MP said the actions of Mr Johnson’s advisor had badly undermined the scheme.

He told The Telegraph: "They are rolling this out now when we've lost the good will of the nation because of Cummings".

"The government's street cred has gone out of the window. People are losing sight at the gravity of the challenge we face and I fear it won't be until we have a second wave that people start to take this seriously again."