Health Secretary says it is our 'civic duty' to take part in test and trace

Matt Hancock has said it is people’s ‘civic duty’ to isolate if they are told to under the government’s new test and trace plans.

From tomorrow, contact tracers working for the NHS will be working out who those who test positive for coronavirus have been in close contact with.

They will then let those people know, and tell them to self-isolate for 14 days even if they have no symptoms.

The Health Secretary said: ‘If you are contacted by NHS Test and Trace, instructing you to isolate, you must. It is your civic duty so you avoid unknowingly spreading the virus and you help to break the chain of transmission.

‘This will be voluntary at first because we trust everyone to do the right thing. But we can quickly make it mandatory if that’s what it takes.

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‘Because if we don’t collectively make this work, then the only way forward is to keep the lockdown, put better, the more people follow the instructions, the safer we will be and the faster we can safely lift the lockdown.

‘So do it for the people you love. Do it for your community. Do it for the NHS and do it for all those frontline workers who have done so much and gone out every day to put themselves at risk to keep you and your family safe.’

The aim of the test and trace system is to move from lockdown towards more targeted measures in specific areas where infection rates might be high.

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The executive chairwoman of NHS Test and Trace Baroness Dido Harding outlined how the new system would work.

Baroness Harding said: ‘I want you to feel safe and confident to play an active part in NHS Test and Trace, for you, your loved ones and our country. We do need you to follow the following three steps:

‘Step one – if you have one or more of the symptoms of coronavirus, a fever, a new, continuous cough or loss of your sense of taste or smell, you must immediately self-isolate.

‘Step two – you should then book a test on the NHS.uk/coronavirus site, or if you don’t have internet access, by dialling 119. Do not leave home for any other reason.

‘If you test positive, you will then be contacted by the NHS Test and Trace service within 24 hours. All contact tracers have been undergoing training and induction before the beginning of this week and before they start work.’

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