Coronavirus: Test and Trace failing to reach almost 30% of close contacts, latest data shows
The government’s contact-tracing programme failed to reach almost 30 per cent of close contacts of people who tested positive for the coronavirus in England, the latest figures show.
Some 71.6 per cent of close contacts were reached through the Test and Trace system in the week ending 23 September, according to data published by the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC).
This is down from 80.8 per cent in the previous week, but above the 69.9 per cent for the week to 2 September, which is the lowest weekly figure recorded to date.
The DHSC said that the percentage of close contacts being reached as “returned to similar proportions seen when Test and Trace launched” in May.
A total of 87,587 people were identified as coming into close contact with someone who had tested positive between 17 September and 23 September.
The number of contacts identified increased by 5 per cent compared to the previous week and has more than doubled over the past 4 weeks.
For cases handled by local health protection teams, 97.6 per cent of contacts were reached and asked to self-isolate. In contrast, cases handled online or by call centres returned a 64.3 successful contact rate.
The latest data also showed that there the median time to receive a result after taking a test in-person has decreased, falling from 30 to 25 hours.
The percentage of people who received their results within a 24-hour window has also increased from the previous set of results, rising from 31.8 per cent to 46.7 per cent.
However, just 2.9 per cent of people in England who used a home test kit for Covid-19 received their result within 24 hours.
There was also a 61 per cent increase in positive cases in England's latest weekly data, with more than four times the number of cases recorded as there were at the end of August, the data showed.
A total of 31,373 people tested positive over the specified time period.
The DHSC claimed that testing capacity in the UK across all pillars between 17 and 23 September rose to 2,660,271 tests - a five per cent increase on the previous week.
