Boris Johnson hints contact tracing figures might FINALLY be released tomorrow – but Health Secretary Matt Hancock admits the NHS tracking app is STILL not ready
- Scheme rolled out at the start of June along with a 25,000-strong army of staff
- But ministers have so far refused to release data on how well it is working
- Last week it was reported staff were laid off because of a lack of work
- Here’s how to help people impacted by Covid-19
Boris Johnson hinted today that the Government is finally ready to reveal how well its coronavirus test and trace system is working.
The much delayed operation was rolled out at the start of June along with a 25,000-strong army of staff but ministers have so far refused to release data on how well it is working.
But at Prime Minister’s Questions this afternoon Mr Johnson was pressed by SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford and suggested that could be about to change.
Attacking ‘myth-making from the parties opposite’ the Prime Minister said: ‘Tomorrow the House will be hearing a bit more about what’s happened with NHS test and trace and they will find an extraordinary degree of natural compliance, natural understanding from the British people.’
The NHS Test and Trace programme has been dogged by reports of IT problems and many of the thousands of staff having little or no work to do.
And last week it was reported that hundreds of staff being paid up to £27-per-hour were being let go because there was nothing for them to do.
Mr Johnson’s announcement came as Health Secretary Matt Hancock admitted he still cannot say when the Government’s coronavirus contact-tracing app – the third strand of the project – will be ready to launch.
It came as Health Secretary Matt Hancock said he still cannot say when the Government’s coronavirus contact-tracing app will be ready to launch.
The much delayed operation was rolled out at the start of June along with a 25,000-strong army of staff but ministers have so far refused to release data on how well it is working
At Prime Minister’s Questions this afternoon Mr Johnson was pressed by SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford and suggested that could be about to change
Health Secretary Matt Hancock has said he still cannot say when the Government’s coronavirus contact-tracing app will be ready to launch.
Mr Hancock told the virtual CogX technology conference that trials of the app have been continuing on the Isle of Wight.
‘The app is progressing and we will launch it when the time is right. I am not going to put a date on it,’ he said.
He said however that persuading people to self-isolate if they had been in contact with someone with the disease was better done by a human contact-tracer.
‘What really matters is the people. The technology is a facilitator for people to be able to do things better,’ he said.
‘Getting people actually used to the idea that if you are contacted by the contact tracer you do that (self-isolate). That is better done with human contact and hence the contact-tracing system that is up and running is working well.’