People ‘didn’t feel like answering the phone’ to contact tracers

Health Minister Edward Argar has said many of the people who tested positive for coronavirus but were not successfully contacted by England’s contact tracing system “simply didn’t feel like answering the phone”.

Tracers tried to contact 8,117 people who tested positive between 28 May and 3 June – the first week of the system. Of those, 5,407 (67%) were reached.

“Some people won’t necessarily have answered their phone,” Argar told BBC Breakfast.

“You and I know what it’s like if you have flu, for example, and Covid-19 is a much much nastier disease than that – you sometimes simply don’t feel like answering the phone or responding to much at all.”

He said he thinks the scheme “has started off very, very well” and the government will “continue to chase up those who didn’t respond”.