Jonathan Ashworth responds to reports that test and trace failures helped the Indian Covid variant to spread

“This is deja vu and echoes the mistakes made last year with Boris Johnson’s ‘whack-a-mole’ approach.

“It beggars belief that yet again local health experts on ground have been left in the dark for two weeks when we know acting with speed is vital to containing an outbreak.

“Ministers need to explain what’s gone wrong and provide local health directors with all the resources they need to push infections down.”