One in six close contacts not being reached by test and trace regime in Hertfordshire
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One in six 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 55,986 people who tested positive for Covid-19 in Hertfordshire were transferred to the Test and Trace service between May 28 and January 13.
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Hide AdThat means 8,666 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 113,564 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 83.8% of those were reached, meaning 18,406 people were not contacted or did not respond.
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Hide AdThat was up from the 82.6% reached in the period to January 6
Across England, 92.8% 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 January 13.
Local health protection teams deal with cases linked to settings such as hospitals, schools and prisons.
The contact tracing rate including these cases was 92.9%, up from 92.7% the week before.
Around 352,000 new cases were transferred nationally in the week to January 13.