Boris Johnson’s cause to regret ‘world-beating’ Track and Trace boast: The Yorkshire Post says

After raising eyebrows last week when he told former Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt during a Liaison Committee meeting that he had been “forbidden” from announcing any more targets in relation to getting coronavirus test results back within 24 hours, Boris Johnson changed tack during Prime Minister’s Questions to do exactly that.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson speaks during Prime Minister's Questions in the House of Commons, London. Picture: House of Commons/PA WirePrime Minister Boris Johnson speaks during Prime Minister's Questions in the House of Commons, London. Picture: House of Commons/PA Wire
Prime Minister Boris Johnson speaks during Prime Minister's Questions in the House of Commons, London. Picture: House of Commons/PA Wire

In response to another question from the same MP today, Mr Johnson gave an undertaking all tests will be turned around within 24 hours by the end of this month.

The Prime Minister chose his words carefully, saying that this target excepted difficulties with postal tests or other “insuperable problems.”

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His caveat on that matter was important after he was given cause to regret his clearer promise on May 20 that the UK would have a “world-beating” test, track and trace operation to identify people who had come into contact with Covid-19 sufferers in place by June 1.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson speaks during Prime Minister's Questions in the House of Commons, London. Picture: House of Commons/PA WirePrime Minister Boris Johnson speaks during Prime Minister's Questions in the House of Commons, London. Picture: House of Commons/PA Wire
Prime Minister Boris Johnson speaks during Prime Minister's Questions in the House of Commons, London. Picture: House of Commons/PA Wire

Labour leader Keir Starmer said council leaders believe the local element of the scheme is weeks away from being ready, while Baroness Dido Harding, who is heading up the NHS Test and Trace system, has reportedly admitted it will not be fully operational until the end of June.

Mr Johnson accused Mr Starmer of “casting aspersions” on those who have set up the system – but his comments merely echo what the Association of Directors of Public Health said last week when they warned the programme is “currently far from being the robust operation that is now urgently required as a safeguard to easing restrictions”.

With the country still at Level 4 alert – meaning transmission of Covid-19 is still considered to be “high or rising exponentially” – the new Test and Trace system is clearly vital to the safety of the nation.

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But it is equally clear the system is not yet completely effective, so we must pray caution.

Editor’s note: first and foremost - and rarely have I written down these words with more sincerity - I hope this finds you well.

Almost certainly you are here because you value the quality and the integrity of the journalism produced by The Yorkshire Post’s journalists - almost all of which live alongside you in Yorkshire, spending the wages they earn with Yorkshire businesses - who last year took this title to the industry watchdog’s Most Trusted Newspaper in Britain accolade.

And that is why I must make an urgent request of you: as advertising revenue declines, your support becomes evermore crucial to the maintenance of the journalistic standards expected of The Yorkshire Post. If you can, safely, please buy a paper or take up a subscription. We want to continue to make you proud of Yorkshire’s National Newspaper but we are going to need your help.

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Postal subscription copies can be ordered by calling 0330 4030066 or by emailing [email protected]. Vouchers, to be exchanged at retail sales outlets - our newsagents need you, too - can be subscribed to by contacting subscriptions on 0330 1235950 or by visiting www.localsubsplus.co.uk where you should select The Yorkshire Post from the list of titles available.

If you want to help right now, download our tablet app from the App / Play Stores. Every contribution you make helps to provide this county with the best regional journalism in the country.

Sincerely. Thank you.

James Mitchinson

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