Government announces plans to strengthen regional coronavirus contact tracing in England

The government has announced plans to "strengthen regional contact tracing" in England by working with local authorities.

NHS Test and Trace and Public Health England will work with councils to reach more people who have been in contact with someone who has a positive coronavirus test, the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) said.

The national service is to give local areas “dedicated ring-fenced teams” to help with contact tracing.

Officials said that if the national team cannot make contact with a resident within a set period of time, the local public health officials can use the data provided by NHS Test and Trace to follow up.

In some pilot areas this has involved local authority teams visiting people at home, it added.

DHSC added that as the contact tracing system becomes “more locally targeted”, NHS Test and Trace will “will reduce current extra capacity and reduce the number of non-NHS call handlers”.

There has been criticism that some contact tracers have contacted just a handful of people.

But DHSC said that staff numbers can “quickly scaled up, or down depending on requirements for the national service”.

Baroness Dido Harding executive chair of NHS Test and Trace said: “NHS Test and Trace is one of the largest contact tracing and testing systems anywhere in the world, and was built rapidly, drawing on the UK’s existing health protection networks, to stop the spread of coronavirus.

“At the height of the pandemic we ensured the system had extra capacity in place to cope with potential peaks in the virus. We have always been clear that NHS Test and Trace must be local by default and that we do not operate alone – we work with and through partners across the country.

“As we learn more about the spread of the disease, we are able to move to our planned next step and become even more effective in tackling the virus.

“After successful trials in a small number of local areas, I am very pleased to announce that we are now offering this integrated localised approach to all local authorities to ensure we can reach more people in their communities and stop the spread of Covid-19.”

James Jamieson, chairman of the Local Government Association, added: “This announcement is good news for everyone.

“A strong national and local partnership is critical for test and trace to work as effectively as possible and it is right that local resources are kept under constant review to ensure everyone involved is able to help stop the virus spreading further.

“Using councils’ unrivalled local knowledge and vast experience of contact tracing within local public health teams is vital in the Government’s national efforts.”

Boris Johnson has faced widespread calls to boost contact tracing ahead of all pupils returning to schools in England next month.

Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham said that the Test and Trace programme had to be better to give parents the confidence to send their children back to school.

Speaking on BBC Breakfast, he called on the Government to give more resources to local councils to trace people the national call centres were unable to reach and to also allow people to self-isolate on full pay.

Mr Burnham said: “So many people are struggling to self-isolate because they just can’t afford it.

“We are saying to the Government: you have got to give all employees in the country the ability to self-isolate on full pay, and it’s only that approach that will get Test and Trace system working properly.”

It comes as the World Health Organisation (WHO) said during a virtual press briefing on Monday that the global death toll from Covid-19 will surpass 750,000 this week.

It added that the number of cases around the world will reach 20 million.

“Behind these statistics is a great deal of pain and suffering. Every life lost matters," said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of the WHO.

He also urged world leaders to “suppress, suppress, suppress” the virus.

Dr Maria van Kerkhove, the WHO’s technical lead for Covid-19 added that contact tracing was among the tools countries can use to "outsmart this virus".

She said: “I think everybody on the planet needs to understand that they have a role to play, no matter where you live, no matter what occupation you have no matter what age you are, you can be part of breaking the chains of transmission.”

Additional reporting by PA Media.

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