Failures in England’s test and trace system are to blame for the spread of the Indian Covid variant. A report suggests it is partly responsible for a surge of cases in one of the worst affected parts of the country.
Eight local authorities in England had no access to full data on positive Covid tests in their area for three weeks. The highest number of missing cases was Blackburn with Darwen, Lancashire, which has seen a recent surge in infections. The increase in cases is thought to be linked to the Indian variant.
A technical glitch in the system meant that a number of people experienced a delay in receiving messages from the NHS app informing them of contact with someone who tested positive for coronavirus. Other areas affected include Bath, Blackpool, Bristol, North Somerset, Southend on Sea, Thurrock and York.
What went wrong?
NHS Test and Trace cost the government £37bn. The system is designed to identify people who had close contact with someone with Covid. However, an issue with the system meant eight local authorities only received details of a limited number of positive cases between 21 April and 11 May. Over this period, a total of 734 positive tests went unreported.
The central test and trace system failed to notify staff at local councils about cases. This meant they were unable to trace contacts locally. This added to the rapid spread of the Indian Covid variant. There was a lot of people walking around not knowing they potentially posed a risk of infecting others.
Although those testing positive for coronavirus were notified of their results, local authorities were not provided with contact tracing information through the main system.
Contacting those affected
Nearly 3,000 cases of the fast spreading Indian variant have now been identified in the UK. On 23 April, India was added to the “red list” of countries. This requires travellers to quarantine in a hotel on their return to the UK. This was two days after the problems with Test and Trace began. Identifying particular variants can take up to two weeks.
It is often local authority staff who make first contact with those testing positive, but they were unable to. This also meant they could not offer support to anyone isolating as they were unaware.
Blackburn with Darwen Council found there were 164 cases they did not know about. Following notification from the Department of Health, they traced the affected people. It was not possible to follow up on another 130 unreported cases as the 10 day isolation period had already passed.
Even after cases were uploaded to the system on 12 May, some key information was still missing, such as telephone numbers or addresses.
It is hard to believe that the government allowed something like this to happen. Especially when it is so important for speedy action when trying to contain an outbreak. Local health directors need providing with all resources they require to push infections down.
Despite its failings, NHS Test and Trace has helped to dramatically reduce potential spread of the virus. It has contacted over 10 million people since the start of the pandemic. Although a small number of contacts received late messages, the issue was resolved quickly, and everyone affected was contacted and instructed to follow self isolation guidelines.
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