Reading’s local test and trace system successfully reached around 60 per cent of contacts in its first week.

The government has asked local authorities to set up their own systems to reach the remaining people which the national system has not been able to get in touch with.

Reading Borough Council (RBC) launched its test and trace system last Friday, October 23.

The local system contacts people that the national system has failed to contact, helping the overall system to reach the 80 per cent + of contacts considered necessary for contact tracing to have an impact on slowing the spread of the virus.

In the last week, the NHS Test and Trace system successfully traced 64.6 per cent of cases in Reading. The remaining more difficult to reach cases are then passed to the local authority to attempt to trace.

READ MORE: Coronavirus: November 3 update for Reading

The local team were given 69 people to contact in the first week (October 23-30) – 41 were successfully contacted, with advice given and contact info received.

Four people were referred to the NHS, while another four were too unwell to take part.

A further two people did not want to engage with the service and 18 could not be contacted.

Isabel Edgar Briancon, who heads up the service and is assistant director fo customer service at the council, said: "We are very much supplementing the government.

"The govenment has failed to contact people who have tested positive and we are stepping in.

"We are getting the people who are really diffcult to engage coming through to us.

"These are people who would not have had any contact otherwise."

She said the local contact tracing team is also working with the University of Reading to do more targeted tracing.

The team has no targets from the government and is purely supplementing the national targets.

The four contacts which were sent back to the NHS were because the data was old and the people had been tested many weeks before.

The latest provisional data on case numbers shows there were 123 cases per 100,000 people in the last seven days in Reading on November 2.

The local contact tracing telephone service is running seven days a week:

Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm

Saturday to Sunday, from 10am to 1pm

Where people cannot be reached, the public health team will go to their home address to knock on the door and post a letter and information leaflet if no one answers.

READ MORE: University of Reading opens new coronavirus testing site

The national and local test and trace systems do not deal with cases linked to settings such as hospitals, schools and prisons, which are handled by local health protection teams.

Reading’s local test and trace system successfully reached just under 60 per cent of contacts in its first week.

The government has asked local authorities to set up their own systems to reach people which the national system has not been able to get in touch with.Reading Borough Council (RBC) launched its test and trace system last Friday, October 23.

The local system contacts people that the national system has failed to contact, helping the overall system to reach the 80 per cent + of contacts considered necessary for contact tracing to have an impact on slowing the spread of the virus.

In the last week, the NHS Test and Trace system successfully traced 64.6 per cent of cases in Reading.

READ MORE: Coronavirus: November 3 update for Reading

The local team were given 69 people to contact in the first week (October 23-30) – 41 were successfully contacted, with advice given and contact info received.

Four people were referred to the NHS, while another four were too unwell to take part.

A further two people did not want to engage with the service and 18 could not be contacted.

The latest provisional data says there were 123 cases per 100,000 people in the last seven days in Reading on November 2.

The local contact tracing telephone service is running seven days a week:

Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm

Saturday to Sunday, from 10am to 1pm

Where people cannot be reached, the public health team will go to their home address to knock on the door and post a letter and information leaflet if no one answers.

READ MORE: University of Reading opens new coronavirus testing site

The national and local test and trace systems do not deal with cases linked to settings such as hospitals, schools and prisons, which are handled by local health protection teams.