Скачать или смотреть Covid-19: UK test and trace barely functional as nearly 10 million face lockdown

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The coronavirus test and trace system was condemned as barely functional today as its tsar admitted demand was up to four times capacity, while 90% of tests were failing to hit the 24-hour turnaround target. The Guardian has seen documents showing tracers taking up to two weeks to contact friends, relatives and workmates of people diagnosed with Covid-19 the entire length of the self-isolation period. But amid growing anger and lengthening queues at testing centres, Dido Harding, head of the 10bn NHS test-and-trace programme which is designed to prevent a second wave of Covid-19, told MPs on Thursday: I strongly refute that the system is failing. It came as sources said Leeds was expected to become the latest city to face lockdown measures , bringing the number of people subject to restrictions to more than 10 million including nearly 2 million in north-east England. Official figures confirmed a 75% increase in positive weekly cases across England last week. Just 1. 9% of people using a home test kit in England got their results within 24 hours in the week to 9 September, according to official figures the lowest percentage since test and trace was launched in May. Results from 33. 3% of in-person tests were turned around within 24 hours, down from 66. 5% in the previous week, creating knock-on delays for contacts required to self-isolate. Harding, who also heads the newly created National Institute for Health Protection, told MPs: We made a conscious decision because of the large increase in demand to extend the turnaround time in order to process the number of tests in the last couple of weeks. She admitted that demand for coronavirus tests across the UK is three to four times higher than the total daily capacity of 240,000 82,000 in the NHS and Public Health England and 160,000 in the community. It means that requests for tests could amount to nearly 1m a day, based on estimates including the number of people calling