Coronavirus: 14-day quarantine for Covid contacts could be reduced

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Ministers are considering reducing the quarantine period for contacts of those who test positive for Covid-19 amid criticism of NHS Test and Trace.

The 14-day period could be cut to 10 or seven days, sources told the BBC.

Concerns have been raised over compliance, with Conservative MP Sir Bernard Jenkin describing a "vacuum of leadership in Test and Trace".

The government said the daily 400,000 test capacity is bigger per head than France, Germany, Italy and Spain.

Any change to self-isolation requirements would follow research by King's College London , which suggested just 10.9% of those traced as contacts of someone with Covid-19 remained at home for the full quarantine period.

Sir Bernard, chairman of the liaison committee of select committee chairs, wrote in the Sunday Telegraph that public consent and co-operation with England's system was "breaking down".

He said there should be a "visible and decisive" change, with a senior military figure put in charge of the system.

'Spaghetti of command'

Baroness Dido Harding, currently at the helm, should be "given a well-earned break" so she and others could "reflect on the lessons learned so far", he wrote.

"There is a spaghetti of command and control at the top, which is incapable of coherent analysis, assessment, planning and delivery," he added. "People lack faith that there is a coherent plan."

A Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) spokesperson said that NHS Test and Trace had contacted more 1.1 million people and asked them to self-isolate.

"Dido Harding and her leadership team - drawn from the military, public and private sectors - have built the largest diagnostic industry the UK has ever seen.

"It is the equivalent of building an operation the size of Tesco in a matter of months," the DHSC spokesperson said.

"We need to improve in areas and we are very much focused on that, but we should be talking it up not down."

Last month, it was announced that former Sainsbury's chief executive Mike Coupe would be taking over as director of Covid-19 testing at England's NHS Test and Trace agency.

More than 20,000 tracers were recruited by the service, but many have complained they were given little or nothing to do.

Sir Bernard added: "Bosses do not 'own' their staff: most are temporary appointments and hard to recruit because of a 'toxic culture'."

Boris Johnson conceded on Thursday that NHS Test and Trace required improvements so results were provided quicker.

The government's chief scientific adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance, also acknowledged a need for change.

Figures for the week ending 14 October reveal that just 15.1% of those who were tested received their results within 24 hours - dropping from 32.8% in the previous week.

The figures also showed a fall to 59.6% in the proportion of close contacts reached of people who tested positive.

Sage, which advises the government, has said that at least 80% of contacts would need to isolate for it to work properly.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock has previously said up to 500,000 tests a day could be carried out by 31 October. Latest data showed 340,132 tests were processed on 22 October, with capacity at 361,573.

A further 23,012 new coronavirus cases were reported on Saturday, with a further 174 deaths within 28 days of a positive test recorded.

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