Nearly one in four close contacts not being reached by Test and Trace
Nearly one in four close contacts of people with coronavirus are not being reached by the test and trace system across Shropshire, new figures suggest.
Data from the Department for Health and Social care shows 9,740 people who tested positive for Covid-19 in Shropshire were transferred to the Test and Trace service between May 28 and January 13.
That means 1,458 new cases were transferred in the latest seven-day period.
Contact tracers ask new patients to give details for anyone they were in close contact with in the 48 hours before their symptoms started.
This led to 19,703 close contacts being identified over the period – those not managed by local health protection teams, which are dealt with through a call centre or online.
But 77.5 per cent of those were reached, meaning 4,439 people were not contacted or did not respond.
That was up from the 75.1 per cent reached in the period to January 6.
The data also shows 7,146 people who tested positive for Covid-19 in Telford and Wrekin were transferred to the Test and Trace service between May 28 and January 13 – 1,022 new cases were transferred in the latest seven-day period.
It was the largest increase since the regime began.
It led to 15,971 close contacts being identified over the period, but only 76.1 per cent of those were reached.
It meant 3,824 people were not contacted or did not respond.
That was up from the 73.5 per cent reached in the period to January 6
Across England, 92.8 per cent of contacts not managed by local health protection teams were reached and told to self-isolate by NHS Test and Trace in the latest week to January 13.
Local health protection teams deal with cases linked to settings such as hospitals, schools and prisons.
The contact tracing rate including these cases was 92.9 per cent, up from 92.7 per cent the week before.
Around 352,000 new cases were transferred nationally in the week to January 13.
