, Labour’s Shadow Health
Minister, responding to figures that show many are waiting longer
than 24 hours for coronavirus test results, said:
“We are now three weeks into the supposed world leading test and
trace system and there are still a quarter of people not being
contacted. There is no doubt that this is well below the levels
we need to effectively contain the virus and the Government seems
to be too slow again to react to these failings.
“As we now begin to see localised lockdowns we need Ministers to
be far more rigorous about getting to the bottom of why the
contact rate isn’t improving. The performance so far simply isn’t
good enough and far from the world leading system we were
promised.
“We know for there to be an effective testing and tracing system
to be in place that results need to be back quickly so it’s both
disappointing and concerning that the Government is moving the
goalposts on its 24 hour turnaround for tests . Ministers need to
come clean about the problems meeting this target and what they
are going to do to put it right. The Government has been too slow
on lockdown, too slow on PPE, too slow on social care - we cannot
afford for it to be too slow on this as well.”
Notes to Editors:
-
A quarter of people who test positive
for coronavirus are
still not reached by the NHS Test and Trace
system
· Coronavirus:
Many waiting longer than 24 hours for
test resultshttps://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-53248343
