The nation’s test-and-trace system will be overwhelmed if there is a “dramatic” rise in Covid-19 cases, ministers were warned today after the biggest daily leap since May.
Concerns are rising after some people were being asked to travel hundreds of miles to get tested because there were no slots available at their local testing centre.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock stressed today that the most recent spike in cases was particularly among “affluent” young people, with poorer communities having been hit in other outbreaks.
He appealed to young people to follow social distancing rules, emphasising that it was inevitable that if this group gets Covid-19 in ever greater numbers that they would pass it to other more vulnerable generations.
The Government was under growing pressure to get the test-and-trace system working far better as it is still not reaching many people who have come into contact with those testing positive for the infection.
Devi Sridhar, professor of Global Public Health at Edinburgh University’s Medical School, told the BBC: “Right now the testing and tracing system is trying to do the work but if the numbers increase dramatically it’s too much for the system — it operates when numbers are low, that’s where it’s optimal.”
After nearly 3,000 Covid cases were announced yesterday, Mr Hancock said: “It is concerning because we have seen a rise in cases in France, in Spain, in some other countries across Europe.”
