Coronavirus: 'Thousands' of Covid cases not tracked and traced

Contact tracing is considered a key element in slowing the spread of coronavirus

Thousands of people who have tested positive for Covid-19 appear not to have been contacted by the Public Health Agency's Contact Tracing Service (CTS) this month.

The CTS provides weekly updates of the number of positive cases transferred to its system and how many were "reached".

In the past two weeks' updates, more than 4,000 positive cases were not "reached".

Health authorities say a 'significant' number of people were not contacted.

The Public Health Agency said there had been an unprecedented increase in cases.

Contact tracing is considered a key element of stopping the spread of Covid-19.

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It involves contacting positive cases and then contacting those they have been close to and telling them to self-isolate.

CTS activity in the seven days to 15 October states that 6,753 positive cases were transferred to CTS. Of those, only 4,195 were 'reached'.

In the previous week, there were 4,128 positive cases transferred but only 2,317 were 'reached'.

The PHA said that in one week, case numbers rose by 300% and placed significant pressure on CTS.

Digital first approach

It said it had "further accelerated measures to deal with these unprecedented figures" including a "digital first" approach.

The "digital first" approach began on 9 October and texts people who tested positive asking them to enter their close contacts online.

The PHA statement continued: "The digital first approach has enabled the CTS to make prompt contact with positive cases and their close contacts.

"However we would acknowledge that there were a significant number of individuals who may not have received any contact from the CTS during the period whilst the service was having to scale up its capacity."

It said the number of positive cases transferred to the CTS and the number "reached" can be considered a broad overview of demand and capacity.

It added that the number of cases added in a particular seven-day period will not be the exact same cohort who are followed up in the same period.