Covid report co-author: Test and trace system 'real failure' of pandemic
12 October 2021, 22:51 | Updated: 12 October 2021, 22:57
The UK would still be in the depths of the Covid-19 pandemic if we relied on NHS Test and Trace, one of the co-authors of the 'damning' Covid report suggests.
Greg Clark is the chair of Parliament's Science and Technology Committee - which has put the Covid report together alongside the Health Committee.
He spoke to Tom Swarbrick following deep criticism of the government's response to the pandemic upon the release of the report.
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"£37 billion on test and trace, is that money well spent?" Tom asked. Mr Clark's swift answer was "no".
He pointed out that it was "an extraordinary sum of money" to spend on a system that didn't work efficiently.
"That is a thousand pounds for every household in the country."
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"When you consider the uses of taxpayer money...the performance of NHS test and trace coupled with the money that has gone into it...that is a real failure" Mr Clark added.
When Tom asked what specifically was the issue with Test and Trace, the Tory MP said "it was handicapped from the outset by not being set up early enough."
"Right throughout the pandemic, Test and Trace has failed us and we say in the report had it not been for the vaccine it's quite likely that this summer...we wouldn't have had that summer."
"The reliability of our test and trace system is not something you'd want to put much faith in."
