UK: Junior Minister says 'thousands' are being traced under government's COVID-19 response

The United Kingdom’s junior health minister Edward Argar reportedly said that ‘thousands’ of people are being successfully traced as part of the government’s COVID-19 response. As the UK government launched test and trace system back in May, Argar said that the authorities are into the thousands being successfully traced at the moment. Though he wasn’t able to provide specific numbers, he reportedly, however, said that the government is working with the statistics authority to agree the process to make sure that accept it’s reliable. 

Last month, UK health secretary Matt Hancock had announced the ‘test, track and trace system’. Hancock explained that the programme involved contact tracing and tracing via the smartphone app. The application helps people, who have developed COVID-19 symptoms, to register. The phone app then uses ‘proximity information’ and Bluetooth signal to register people’s interactions in a bid to trace any contacts that the symptomatic person may have been involved in. The new system allows that authorities to take a more ‘targeted approach’ to fight the deadly virus. 

Currently, according to Johns Hopkins University tally, the UK has over 279,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases and the deadly virus has even claimed nearly 39,452 lives. Last week, the country reportedly also exceeded its target to increase coronavirus testing capacity to 200,000 a day by the end of May.

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‘Right step’ to ease lockdown measures 

Moreover, as the government is taking ‘modest’ steps in easing lockdown, while some people lauded the government for the rapid testing capacity, others voiced concerns about the timing of the changes as they believe it is too early for the authorities to lift the restrictions. However, with many criticising the government, UK foreign minister Dominic Raab defended the government's decision to ease the coronavirus lockdown as he said that it was the "right step" at this time. 

The government is taking these steps very carefully, based on the science but also based on the UK’s ability to monitor the virus, he added. With the highest death rate of the coronavirus in the world, the UK stated that it was about time for the country to cautiously balance the need to restart the economy and the pandemic outbreak.  

(Image: AP) 

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