Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the recommendations contained in the report published by Public Health England on 12 February 2020 entitled Recommendations on the continuing use of case-identification / contact-tracing / case and contact isolation (CCI) management to mitigate the impact of imported cases of Covid-19, which Minister in his Department considered those recommendations; and what decisions were made as a result of those recommendations.

Following the meeting of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) on 11 February 2020, Public Health England (PHE) identified a number of potential endpoints where it may be decided that contact tracing and isolation should be abandoned. PHE provided two papers which set out the potential endpoints which are available on GOV.UK at the following links:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/890217/s0018-when-to-stop-contact-tracing-developing-triggers-200220-sage9.pdf

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/890215/s0015-recommendations-on-continuing-use-cci-management-120220-sage9.PDF

Contact tracing and investigation of complex incidents have continued throughout the pandemic. Once there was clear evidence of widespread, sustained community transmission and the Prime Minister announced the move to the delay phase on 12 March, contact tracing was unlikely to control the outbreak alone. At this point, contact tracing was targeted where it could be most effective during this phase – focusing on the most vulnerable, for instance, carrying out contact tracing in care homes, hospitals and institutional environments. This decision to end the containment phase of the response, implement social distancing and enter the delay phase was a decision made by the Government.