Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress his Department has made on the establishment of a test and trace service for covid-19.

The NHS Test and Trace service brings together testing, contact tracing and outbreak management into an end-to-end service.

We have created the largest diagnostic testing network in British history, including 68 regional test sites, home testing kits and satellite testing, more than 147 mobile testing units and three mega Lighthouse laboratories. We have opened six new ‘walk in’ local testing centres to make it easier for people without cars to get a test. Specialised translation services will soon be offered across a range of 68 testing sites, to support people who do not speak English as their first language and British Sign Language for people with hearing difficulties.

We have recruited 27,000 contact tracers who are working alongside local public health experts and online contact tracing services to trace the contacts of anyone who has tested positive for COVID-19. Between 25 June and 1 July 2020:

- 303,409 new people were tested for COVID-19 under Pillars 1 and 2 in England;

- 3,903 new people tested positive for COVID-19; and

- 4,347 people had their case transferred to the contact tracing system.