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Matt Hancock on Sky News. Sky News/Screenshot

Matt Hancock laughs off suggestion that 'Test and Trace' launched early to distract from Cummings saga

Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the system wasn’t being rushed through to distract from the Cummings controversy.

THE UK’S HEALTH Secretary Matt Hancock believes that the “vast majority” of the British public will abide by the new rules of the test and trace system, and laughed at the idea that it had been launched to distract from the Dominic Cummings controversy.

When asked on Sky News whether the Test and Trace system was being rushed through as a distraction, Matt Hancock laughed, and said that he’s usually accused of not acting fast enough.

This comes amid reports by Sky News that some contact tracers do not have their basic systems up and running yet; the UK’s Department of Health has insisted that the “vast majority of our 25,000 staff have completed their training”. 

The UK’s contact tracing system, called ‘Test and Trace’, will be rolled out across England today – although the accompanying app is still delayed by several weeks.

Under the new system, manned by around 25,000 contact tracers, people who come into close contact with a coronavirus sufferer will be told to self-isolate for 14 days.

People contacted as part of the new NHS Test and Trace system must stay at home, Matt Hancock has said, while continuing to defend Dominic Cummings for “acting within the guidelines”.

If an person tests positive, NHS contact tracers or local public health teams will call, email or send a text asking them to share details of the people they have been in close contact with and places they have visited.

The team then emails or texts those close contacts, telling them they must stay home for 14 days even if they have no symptoms, to avoid unknowingly spreading the virus.

The Health Secretary said “the instructions are absolutely clear” and that, if told to do so by a tracer, it is very important that individuals self-isolate for 14 days.

His comments came amid mounting Tory anger over alleged lockdown breaches by Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s chief adviser, whose actions the Health Secretary said he understood people disagreed with.

Hancock said he believes “the vast majority” will self-isolate voluntarily under the new system and that people will not receive penalties for failing to abide by the guidelines “in the first instance”, but he left open the possibility of making it mandatory for people to stay at home in the future.

Cummings controversy

Asked why people should follow the new guidelines in light of Cummings’s actions, Hancock said: “I think that the vast majority of people will understand that it is in everybody’s interest that those who are in higher risk follow the requests from the NHS, these instructions, and it is very important that they do.

And, frankly, this is about how, as a country, we get out of this lockdown in the safest possible way, short of having a vaccine or an effective treatment, which obviously we’re working on but we don’t yet have.

At least 38 Tories called for Cummings to quit or be sacked, but Hancock remained adamant that the Downing Street aide acted in line with the rules.

“I’ve said that I think that he was acting within the guidelines; I also understand why reasonable people might disagree with that,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

Senior minister Penny Mordaunt admitted there were “inconsistencies” in Cummings’ account – saying “there is no doubt he took risks”.

Johnson continued to stand by his aide and insisted it was time to “move on” when he faced intense questioning over the issue in an appearance before the Commons Liaison Committee of senior MPs yesterday.

However, former home secretary Amber Rudd added her name to the list of prominent Tory figures saying Dominic Cummings should quit.

“Yes, I think he should quit, because he’s making things worse,” Rudd said on ITV’s Peston programme.

Rudd said that, through various Government campaigns, Johnson had seen Cummings as a “talisman, a lucky charm, and that he needs him going forward”.

“Dominic has been a winner for him on these campaigns but he’s not instrumental to good government,” she said.

And my problem at the moment is that Dominic is being negative for good government. He’s a public servant – it should be about service – and at the moment he is not helping this country.

The launch of the Test and Trace system comes as:

  • The toll of deaths linked to the virus rose to almost 48,000, while at least 188 frontline health and care workers have died after contracting Covid-19.
  • Johnson said he has asked scientists to review the two-metre social distancing rule to see if it can be reduced in an effort to help public transport and the hospitality sector.
  • Johnson also promised to look into a condition of the immigration system which has left people with no state financial support during the coronavirus crisis.

All non-essential shops in England can reopen from 15 June after they were closed under the imposed lockdown on 23 March. 

Meanwhile, a test and trace system is also launching in Scotland, where an easing of the lockdown is expected later.

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    Mute Paula T Nolan
    Favourite Paula T Nolan
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    May 17th 2021, 3:12 PM

    Lingering resentment due to lingering cost – still paying the Universal Social Charge. Also, it gave employers a new license to shrimp on salaries. I now take home the same after tax pay as in 2008. Resentment? Bloody furious. Especially as most of the boyos who facilitated crash are lining the hulls of their yachts with a greasy coat of paint for summer.

    258
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    Mute Chris Long
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    May 17th 2021, 2:45 PM

    Well if the banks employees says so…. its not like they’re on the payroll or anything!

    148
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    Mute Eoin Jackson
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    May 17th 2021, 3:24 PM

    @Chris Long: you should hear what a lot of people who work in the finance sector have to say about their employers – they are also on the payroll… Being on the payroll doesn’t make anyone give praise to their employers. Not saying the banks are great or anything but the point you are implying is heavily flawed.

    48
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    Mute Adrian™
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    May 17th 2021, 3:03 PM

    Why would anyone say you have trust in a bank? Unless the mean they trust the bank to treat you like dirt and charge you handsomely for the pleasure…

    181
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    Mute Michael Healy
    Favourite Michael Healy
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    May 17th 2021, 3:20 PM

    Banks had to be forced to put in a payment break for loans and mortgages in the first lockdown and wouldn’t even entertain it cone the second one, and yet wonder why people have low trust in banks. Some people think we have the bank debt paid off when in reality we are just adding the covid borrowing to the bank debt and we can forget things like the USC ever going away, meanwhile banks can put out these false mortgage and loan ads where they look great and friendly without realising when u fall on hard times, they turn into pack wolves and can cause people serious health issues trying to repay things back

    133
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    Mute Jack Cass
    Favourite Jack Cass
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    May 17th 2021, 2:31 PM

    Ah! the innocence of youth.

    124
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    Mute Karen Delaney
    Favourite Karen Delaney
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    May 17th 2021, 3:47 PM

    They’ve given us no reason to trust them. While the rest of the population scrimped out a living on much reduced pay, bankers continued with high salaries and bonuses.

    118
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    Mute Quiet Goer
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    May 17th 2021, 2:30 PM

    Pheic the cashless society

    42
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    Mute Corkonian In Dublin
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    May 17th 2021, 7:28 PM

    Asking bank staff about bank culture is like asking Landlords to vote for rent increases. If you want to know the true state of the Irish banking sector look at Ulster Bank and KBC. They are both pulling out. Leaving the country with AIB, BOI and PTSB. All of whom took state bailouts (your and mine pension money) and have yet to repay all of it (nor will they). I would like the EU to insist on the government to all Irish Citizens to open bank accounts in any bank on mainland Europe away from the so called “Pillar Banks”

    32
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    Mute Niall Donnelly
    Favourite Niall Donnelly
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    May 17th 2021, 5:17 PM

    Shower of Bankers!!!

    31
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    Mute Deirdre O'Byrne
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    May 17th 2021, 7:06 PM

    @Niall Donnelly: wunch of bankers.

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    Mute whitewater
    Favourite whitewater
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    May 17th 2021, 6:35 PM

    You can always trust the banks to screw you over. The future of banking is the likes of Revolut and N26. Revolut did what the major banks have resisted for years.

    31
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    Mute Mark
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    May 17th 2021, 7:37 PM

    @whitewater: Revolut is not a Bank and your money is NOT covered under the deposit guarantee scheme

    13
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    Mute thesaltyurchin
    Favourite thesaltyurchin
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    May 17th 2021, 6:48 PM

    If they could just do their job properly. These days anyone who can make a decision is surrounded by a jungle of in_ept monkeys, making them nearly impossible to contact, 4 years waiting for BOI to let us draw down the last of our mortgage! Don’t build a house people, not with a bank at least.

    18
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    Mute Bill Spill
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    May 17th 2021, 9:19 PM

    @thesaltyurchin: 4 years waiting on the last drawdown?!?!? There HAS to be more to that story! Genuinely interested if you want to share

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    Mute Dsds
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    May 17th 2021, 7:14 PM

    I would have more trust in a politician than I would in a banker…..

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    Mute Rory J Leonard
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    May 17th 2021, 7:36 PM

    Irish Banking Culture Board!

    Was tried and tested First-World Corporate Governance procedures set down for Plc’s, including for Banks, not sufficient to establish an acceptable culture here, Boss?

    Is Ireland the only country on the planet with such a quaintly named organisation that’s established to assure the public that adherence to procedures manuals, first written hundreds of years ago on proper behaviour in day-to-day banking, is no longer optional for the senior management?

    5
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