NHS test and trace reaches record numbers as Covid-19 cases rise

More than 550,000 cases and contacts were successfully reached and told to isolate in the week before Christmas.

The last week has seen the number of positive cases transferred to the contact tracing system increase by 52 per cent compared to the previous seven days.

For the week between December 17 and December 23, 181,910 people who tested positive were successfully reached, 58,398 more than the previous week and 85.8 per cent of the total number of cases.

Over the same week, 377,459 close contacts of people who tested positive were successfully reached,110,801 more than the previous week and 92.6 per cent of all close contacts identified.

Not only are more cases being reached but they’re being reached more quickly too, with 80.2 per cent reached within 24 hours compared with 77.1 per cent the previous week.

Health chiefs cited improvements to the contact tracing process over the past few months for the rise. Changes have included improving the website, introducing more effective systems for contacting members of the same household and further increases to the number of local authority tracing partnerships.

Health Minister Lord Bethell said: “The improvements we’ve made to the contact tracing process over the past months are really bearing fruit now, with record numbers of people being successfully contacted by the service. It’s important to remember that every single successful call our contact tracers make is another person prevented from the risk of unknowingly spreading this awful virus to the people around them.

“As we enter the new year, I would urge the public to heed our advice on ‘Hands. Face. Space’, and not to hesitate to book a test if they have coronavirus symptoms.

“I would like to thank everyone who has been working so hard over the festive period to keep NHS Test and Trace running, processing huge numbers of tests, ensuring that anyone who needs a test can get one, and reaching the great majority of people who test positive and their contacts to help ensure they self-isolate.”

Interim executive chairman of the National Institute for Health Protection Baroness Dido Harding said: “Despite record numbers of people using NHS Test and Trace, we are successfully reaching record numbers of people who have tested positive and their contacts.

“Turnaround times have temporarily increased over the festive period as we deal with huge increases in demand, but we continue to make tests available to anybody who needs one, while our labs are processing ever greater numbers of tests.

“I am hugely grateful for the hard work and dedication of the NHS Test and Trace team and our partners over this challenging festive period.”

NHS COVID-19 app was the second most downloaded free iPhone app on its App Store in the UK this year and has been downloaded more than 20.9 million times.

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