Coronavirus: Blackburn local tracing service launched

Blackburn with Darwen brought in new measures in July after a spike in Covid-19 cases

A contact tracing system in which council staff use local knowledge to track people NHS Test and Trace cannot find has been launched in Blackburn.

The set-up was started by Blackburn with Darwen Council after the borough's director of public health said the national system was "not fast enough".

Blackburn was "already seeing benefits" from the new system, the council said.

Asked about the NHS system's failings, Local Government Minister Simon Clarke said it was "maturing all the time".

Blackburn with Darwen brought in extra measures on 14 July after a spike in Covid-19 cases.

Latest government figures showed the rate for new cases had fallen slightly from 81.9 cases per 100,000 people in the week to 24 July, to 77.9 in the week to 31 July.

A total of 116 new cases were recorded in the seven days up to 31 July.

The Lancashire borough's director of public health, Dominic Harrison, said in a tweet the local system had been developed because the national system was "simply not tracing enough cases and contacts fast enough".

Prof Chris Bonell, from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said the national system was falling short and estimated only half of contacts were being traced.

He added it was "not achieving the levels we have modelled".

Asked about the estimate that only 50% of contacts are being traced in England, Mr Clarke told the BBC government figures were higher.

He said: "You're building an entirely new infrastructure which there's no precedent for. But we're confident it is working [and] we're confident that it will continue to improve."

The team will use local knowledge to contact people that NHS Test and Trace cannot

Paul Fleming, the council's director of business change, said the system, launched in partnership with Public Health England, complemented the national service "because we have the local knowledge of the area and the ability to send officers round to people's addresses".

He continued: "Our system is also beneficial because we can refer those who need to isolate to local support services if necessary."

He added that the council was "already seeing its benefits as we have managed to contact people the national system couldn't".

The system will see contacts passed to a local team, who will use different numbers and emails held by the council to "improve our chances" of contacting residents, a spokesman said.

He added if the team received no response to texts, calls and emails within two days, a staff member would visit.

The national system would then be updated with any new contacts.

A government spokesperson said: "Our priority is to curb the spread of this virus and save lives, and local action to tackle outbreaks and keep people safe is a crucial part of the national NHS Test and Trace service.

"We continue to work closely with all local authorities and are providing targeted, additional support where needed, including in Blackburn with Darwen where we have assigned a ring-fenced group of NHS contact tracers to follow up positive cases."