Coronavirus: Peterborough could get local track and trace system amid concerns over reaching follow-up contacts

The city’s director of public health Dr Liz Robin revealed that a local system is being looked at and “could definitely be beneficial,” but it would only be introduced in collaboration with the national system.

A number of local councils have introduced their own track and trace system to help pick up people being missed by the £10 billion national version, with local teams able to visit people and advise them to have tests for Covid-19 and self-isolate.

Dr Robin, who is also in charge of public health in Cambridgeshire, said local figures for how many people are being successfully contacted are not being published yet because the methodology is “not robust enough”.

But she added: “The general picture for Peterborough is that there are, as in other areas, some cases which can’t be contacted by the national system.

“What’s less good than average in Peterborough is the follow-up of contacts where it’s the national telephone and text contact. We do have an issue with follow-up when it’s done nationally rather than locally.

“What we’re not quite clear on is, you might have a large household with people together, so follow-up will be word of mouth, but if it’s not shown in the system you wouldn’t know it’s been done.

“I would encourage anyone who gets a text or call from contact tracers to respond to it.”

Asked if a local system could be introduced in Peterborough, she replied: “It’s something we’re looking at it. It could definitely be beneficial.”

But she stressed: “It would be in collaboration with the national service.”
Dr Robin also praised the local Muslim community for its engagement prior to Eid.

She said: “Mosques in Peterborough throughout the pandemic have responded incredibly and got all the right messages out. A lot of work has been done with the community and the mosques getting the right messages out for Eid. I hope that’s been successful (in avoiding positive tests).

“The work we’ve done with the community on Eid - with lots of great support from community leaders - if that model succeeds we will want to learn from it and use it for other festivals and celebrations.”

Dr Robin also stressed that only two households should meet indoors at one time, and they should make sure to socially distance from each other.

She added that national Q&As on the current guidelines are very good.