Coronavirus: Government made ‘mistake’ in dropping test track and trace, says scientist on Sage panel

Wellcome Trust director Jeremy Farrar warns UK must learn lesson from February and March

A leading British scientist who sits on the panel advising the government on coronavirus has admitted the UK made a mistake in dropping its test, track and trace policy in March.

Jeremy Farrar, director of the Wellcome Trust and member of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies, made the comment in an interview on the BBC's Newsnight on Thursday evening.

Asked whether the government had made a mistake by choosing to stop the policy, he replied: “I think in retrospect it was, yes.”

He added: “I think we should have been testing earlier and we should have been testing more thoroughly across the whole community, in care homes and in hospitals."

Mr Farrar stressed that testing was critical to controlling the virus, adding the infection rate in the UK remained “high” and the country must only lift its lockdown "carefully".

He said: “Testing has been absolutely critical to every country that has successfully so far controlled the epidemic.

“We should not be lifting more of those restrictions until that test, isolation, contact tracing is in place.

“We must learn the lessons of why this epidemic got out of control in February and March. And we must not allow that mistake to be happening in May, June and July.”

Brandon Lewis, the Northern Ireland Secretary, admitted on Friday that only 1,500 out of the government’s intended 18,000 contact tracers had been appointed.

He told Sky News: "As of this morning I'm not sure of exactly how many of the 15,000 have been hired, earlier in the week it was about 1,500, it would have gone up since then.”

Rachel Reeves, shadow chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, has said that her party thought it was a “mistake” to have dropped contact tracing in March.

In a letter to her corresponding cabinet member Michael Gove, she said Labour “supported” moves to establish a “comprehensive strategy” for contact tracing.

However, Ms Reeves questioned whether the government’s target was adequate, saying that some public health professionals suggested as many as 50,000 staff would be needed.

She added: “Contact tracing is a skilled role, handling highly sensitive information, the consequences of which are profound both in terms of public health and the economy.

"Yet job advertisements for manual contact tracing staff are presented as a 'work from home opportunity', at an hourly rate of less than the living wage.”

Labour has also sought details about the procurement process that led to private firm Serco being given the contract for sourcing contact-tracers.

Additional reporting from PA