Failure in NHS Track and Trace ‘helped Indian variant spread in hotspots’

AN NHS Test and Trace failure has contributed to the spread of the Indian variant, a report claims.

Hundreds of cases of coronavirus were not properly chased up, leaving room for the virus to spread uncontrollably.

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Rex

NHS Test and Trace did not report 734 positive tests to eight local authorities over a three week period[/caption]

For three weeks in April and May, eight local authorities in England did not have access to the full data on cases in their area, a report seen by the BBC reported.

On 11 May, leaders of the authorities were told by the Department of Health and Social Care that 734 positive tests had not been reported.

Although those patients were told that they had Covid via testing, the contact information of their friends and family were not obtained by the NHS.

It means that contact tracing staff would not have been able to identify and contact those people to tell them they potentially had Covid and needed to self isolate.

One of the areas is now an Indian variant hotspots where infection rates have soared in the past couple of weeks.

The largest number of missing cases was in Blackburn with Darwen, Lancashire, which has diagnosed 217 new cases in the past week.

Some 164 cases went missing from the system and were later traced. A further 130 were not reported and could not be followed up because the 10-day isolation period had passed. 

Blackburn with Darwen in Lancashire has the second highest Covid rate in England, up from 96.2 per 100,000 people to 145 in one week.

The tech glitch also affected Blackpool, York, Bath and North East Somerset, Bristol, North Somerset, Southend-on-Sea and Thurrock.

According to a report by officials at one of the councils affected,  “the rapid spread of Indian variant cases… may be partially or largely attributable to risks in the international travel control system”.

“These were exacerbated by the sporadic failure of the national Test and Trace system”, the report said.

It comes amid the rapid spread of the Indian variant in the UK, with almost 3,000 cases found so far.

Health officials are trying to keep outbreaks contained to local areas so that it doesn’t become widespread.

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said: “A small number of contacts of positive cases experienced a temporary delay in getting a message from NHS Test and Trace.”

They added: “NHS Test and Trace has contacted over 10 million people since the start of the pandemic, dramatically reducing the potential spread of the virus.

“A small number of contacts of positive cases experienced a temporary delay in getting a message from us recently but it was resolved quickly. All individuals were contacted and instructed to self-isolate for 10 days.”