After Boris Johnson’s statement, based on leaked comments from a senior official said that The NHS Test and Trace system for Covid is not expected to be “world class” until September or October. PM claimed that the UK would have a world-beating test and trace system by the start of June which is the NHS Test and Trace System.
Covid, Test and Trace System not until September
Tony Prestedge, the chief operating officer of the scheme, declared that the system will not be working at a full speed for months. “We know it will be imperfect, we know it will be clunky but we ask you to help us improve the service”, he told in a video message to the staff.
As long as the system isn’t in place, the lockdown should not be softened, warned the scientists. However the UK government has announced that lockdown measures are loose and launched the system across England last week. Caroline Lucas, the Green Party MP for Brighton Pavilion, finds “truly shocking” the comments that were reported.
The Test and Trace system current situation
The NHS Test and Trace system was “up and running” and “helping save lives” are the statements from a spokesperson of the Department of Health and Social Care. It is because “anyone can now book a test and the majority who book a test get the results back within a day.”
Baroness Dido Harding, the head of the programme, has received critics after the refusal to give MPs any data of the new service based on the first six days. She explained when MPs asked for information, there was work in progress to validate performance data on the number of patients contacted within 24 hours and those who were willing to share their contacts.
A lack of transparency risked “destroying confidence” in the system, alerted the chair of the Health Committee, Jeremy Huntand and advanced that people might think data was not transmitted because it was negative.