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Written question asked by Lord Harper (Conservative) on Wednesday, 18 August 2021, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 6 September 2021 (named day). A holding answer was provided on Monday, 6 September 2021. A substantive answer was provided by Jo Churchill (Conservative) on Wednesday, 8 September 2021 on behalf of the Department of Health and Social Care.

Coronavirus: Contact Tracing

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the evidential basis is for the decision to change the NHS Covid App’s operational rules to reduce the time period to notify contacts from within five days to within two days of asymptomatic cases testing positive; and what estimate he has been made of the scale of the consequential reduction in notifications from that change.

Answer

For people who tested positive for COVID-19 but did not have symptoms, it is difficult to know when the period of infectiousness started. Someone without symptoms may have been tested at any point between the start and end of their period of infectiousness. Advice from Public Health England, taking into account operational, clinical and other factors, is that the highest risk period for contacts is most likely to be two days from the test date, this is in line with standard contact tracing practice. The NHS COVID-19 app has therefore been updated to look back two days from the positive test date for contacts of cases who had no symptoms. This change strikes a balance between protecting public health and reducing potential social and economic disruption. The anonymous nature of the app means it is not possible to robustly calculate what impact this change will have, however we are confident this will significantly reduce the number of low-risk contacts being advised to self-isolate.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
40739
Session
2021-22
Registered interest declared
Yes
Subjects
Software NHS Coronavirus Contact tracing
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk