Positive coronavirus cases fall for first time in six weeks

The number of people testing positive for coronavirus has declined for the first time in six weeks - despite an increase in tests.

Only 6,115 positive cases were recorded by NHS Test and Trace across England between Aug 13 and 19, down from 6,616 in the previous week.

The figures were released on Thursday, as ministers decided whether to impose more local or regional lockdowns in order to suppress the virus.

Restrictions remain in place in Greater Manchester, parts of Lancashire, Leicester, Luton and Northampton.

Since the beginning of July, the statistics provided by Test and Trace had shown a steady weakly rise of positive results, outstripping the increase in the number of tests conducted.

They were used as evidence by some experts to argue for the reintroduction of lockdown measures.

Thursday's data also shows that 75.5 per cent of close contacts of people who tested positive for Covid-19 in England were reached through the Test and Trace system in the week ending Aug 19. This is up from 71.6 per cent in the previous week.

For cases handled by local health protection teams, 95.6 per cent of contacts were reached and asked to self-isolate in the week to Aug 19.

By contrast, for those cases handled either online or by call centres, 61.6 per cent of close contacts have been reached and asked to self-isolate.

Two weeks ago ministers announced a major u-turn for the central call centre-led programme, laying off 6,000 staff and redeploying thousands more to assist local teams on the basis they have more success reaching close contacts and persuading them to self-isolate.

The new figures show that just 43 per cent of contacts have been reached for Test and Trace cases in Bradford handled online or by call centres. This is the lowest proportion for any local authority area in England.

For cases in Middlesbrough and Peterborough, 47 per cent of contacts have been reached, for Blackburn with Darwen and the City of London & Hackney the figure is 48 per cent, and for Nottingham and Oldham it is 49 per cent.

The figures also show that the proportion of people receiving their test results within 24 hours from regional test centres, mobile testing units and using home testing kits have each decreased significantly over the last week.

Just 36.5 per cent who visited a regional testing site had the results within a day in the week up to August 19, compared to 57.8 the week before.

'Clearly, we are not there yet'

Saffron Cordery, the deputy chief executive of NHS Providers, which represents hospital bosses, said: “This is a mixed picture. At face value it’s encouraging to see a significant fall in the numbers of people testing positive, despite an increase in tests carried out.

“It’s also good that more people are being transferred to the contact tracing system – in large part because a glitch in the system has now been fixed. But it’s worrying to see that too many people are still not being reached by the system.

“It’s also a real concern that overall turnaround times for swabs taken in the community are taking longer. This is a key component of an effective test and trace system which we’ll need for the months ahead. Clearly, we’re not there yet.”

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Baroness Dido Harding, the interim head of the new National Institute for Health Protection, which now incorporates NHS Test and Trace, said: “The statistics published today show that every week we consistently reach the majority of people testing positive and their contacts, and have now reached almost 300,000 people who may have unknowingly passed the virus on.

“This country now has the capacity to test for coronavirus and trace contacts on an unprecedented scale to stop the spread of the virus.

“We will continue to build the service further to reach more and more people and to scale up our testing capacity by expanding our network of testing sites and investing in new technologies."

She added: “I urge everyone to use NHS Test and Trace to help everyone get back to a more normal way of life. If you have symptoms, book a test immediately, and if you are contacted by the service, follow the advice you receive.”