the test and trace system in england
came under fire this week over longer
waits for test results
in an effort to track the spread of the
virus the government has today
rolled out a new scheme after a
successful trial
90 wastewater treatment sites in england
wales and scotland
to start testing sewage for traces of
the virus
to try to detect local outbreaks before
they spread here's our health editor
hugh pim
it's a new approach to tracking down
coronavirus
monitoring sewage in local communities
this is an early warning system
as fragments of genetic material from
the virus can be detected in waste water
scientists say its real value is in
areas where there might be people who
are
infected but showing no symptoms the
beauty of this technique is that we can
detect people
who are in that situation they don't
know they've got the virus but they're
still shedding it
we can still find it in the wastewater
and we can find it in advance of there
being any positive tests in the
catchment
samples from sewage plants reached labs
for testing the next day
the results are passed on to local
health leaders in plymouth an outbreak
was detected
despite relatively low numbers of people
going for tests
data is also shared with national
experts at the joint biosecurity center
the aim is to support the work done by
test and trace staff
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but in england the testing and tracing
system has come under intense strain
performance figures for time to get
results back and tracing of contacts
have fallen to their lowest levels since
the launch in may
though it has had to deal with rapidly
rising case numbers
perhaps we wouldn't have seen ourselves
in the situation that we are in now
if that had been a bit some experts
argue that the national system could
have been better planned and prepared
i think the intention behind setting up
test and trace was was
well well intended and well-meaning and
actually
was there to meet a desperate need that
we had at the time
uh but perhaps it it wasn't as familiar
uh with the challenge that it faced and
and perhaps therefore does not have the
capacity set up to deal with it
adequately
while the national setup can be
struggling local public health teams
like here in hertfordshire
are taking on more of the tracing work
to try to ensure
infections don't spread and get out of
control
we have a call center if we don't get
through we can go and knock on doors
and that of course is reassuring for
people when they see someone and hear
someone and also then to collect the
information
that we need that helps us identify
locally perhaps the sort of clusters
and where the infection might be
spreading that the national information
may not be getting sewage monitoring
will add to the range of techniques
health officials can use at this
critical
stage in the bid to seek out and control
the virus
cupim bbc news
the latest government figures show that
there were 20
530 new coronavirus infections recorded
in the latest 24-hour period
that's down around 700 on yesterday's
figure
the average number of new cases reported
per day in the last week is now
20 250. 993 people had been
admitted to hospital on average each day
over the week to last
friday 224 deaths were reported
that's people who died within 28 days of
a positive covid19
test that means on average in the past
week
163 deaths were announced every day
and it takes the total number of deaths
so far across the uk to 44
571.
well uh health editor hugh pim is here
with me and hugh how would you assess
the prevalence of the virus now
well rita we've had these indications
today that the
virus numbers might not be expanding
quite so rapidly first the r number the
reproduction number anything above one
shows that it's spreading fast anything
below one shows it's declining it's
still above one
but the top end of the estimated range
has come down a bit
to 1.4 as we heard the ons
thinks from its survey that infections
are not rising quite as rapidly
as they were the previous week but it's
still going up the case
numbers and hospitals are still under
pressure we've had reports today
from hospitals in glasgow manchester
liverpool and birmingham
of rising patient numbers with covid19
and that of course reflects cases
first diagnosed a couple of weeks ago so
a lot of uncertainty about where things
go from here
and attention is focusing more on
christmas after a senior health official
in scotland
said yesterday families should be
prepared for something very far from
normal
maybe a digital christmas well today the
prime minister's official spokesman said
with regard to england that it was their
ambition that families
should be able to celebrate at christmas
if possible but soon after a senior
adviser on the sage committee said only
radical
in action radical action to reduce
infections
would ensure anything like a normal
christmas okay
hugh many thanks our health editor hupim