“It is great to see councils continue to take the lead to tackle the spread of COVID-19. More than 200 councils have now launched their own locally-supported contact tracing arrangements, which continue to reach the vast majority of complex cases assigned to them."
Responding to the announcement of 200 local contact tracing partnerships having been set up across England to work with NHS Test and Trace, with another 100 in the process of being implemented, Cllr Ian Hudspeth, Chairman of the Local Government Association’s Community Wellbeing Board, said:
“It is great to see councils continue to take the lead to tackle the spread of COVID-19. More than 200 councils have now launched their own locally-supported contact tracing arrangements, which continue to reach the vast majority of complex cases assigned to them.
“As we battle to get through this winter and reduce transmission of the virus, it is vital that we build on these successful local schemes to address the current limitations of the national NHS Test and Trace system.
“For that to happen, councils need timely, clearer, more precise information on who they should be trying to contact as soon as possible. The Government also needs to better understand and provide the funding needed for councils to undertake the contact tracing they are picking up – as well as what they could do in the future.”