One in five close contacts not being reached by test and trace regime in Hertfordshire

One in five close contacts of people with coronavirus are not being reached by the test and trace system in Hertfordshire, figures suggest.

Data from the Department for Health and Social care shows 36,503 people who tested positive for Covid-19 in Hertfordshire were transferred to the Test and Trace service between May 28 and December 30.

That means 8,987 new cases were transferred in the latest seven-day period.

Contact tracers ask new patients to give details for anyone they were in close contact with in the 48 hours before their symptoms started.

This led to 78,617 close contacts being identified over the period – those not managed by local health protection teams, which are dealt with through a call centre or online.

But 79.7% of those were reached, meaning 15,973 people were not contacted or did not respond.

That was up from the 75.9% reached in the period to December 23.

Across England, 92.3% of contacts not managed by local health protection teams were reached and told to self-isolate by NHS Test and Trace in the latest week to December 30.

Local health protection teams deal with cases linked to settings such as hospitals, schools and prisons.

The contact tracing rate including these cases was 92.3%, down from 92.6% the week before.

Around 270,000 new cases were transferred nationally in the week to December 30.