Contact tracing service to be extended until March next year

The Test, Track, Protect contact tracing service is to be extended until March 2022, the Welsh Government has confirmed.

An extra £32m of funding will be made available to the service.

Figures released by the Welsh Government show contact tracers have been in touch with 99.7% of all positive cases that were eligible for a follow up.

Figures also show that 95% of close contacts of positive cases, who were eligible for a follow up, were contacted by contact tracers.

Health Minister Eluned Morgan said the service has been “extremely effective at supporting people who have tested positive and their contacts” and described it as “critical to stopping the virus spreading in our communities”

Mrs Morgan added: “As we seek to stop the spread of new variants of concern, experienced contact tracers are key to doing this effectively and we are continuing to invest in this work.”

In a statement, the Welsh Government said contact tracers, as well as advisors working for the Test, Trace, Protect service, are “undertaking enhanced contact tracing to tackle variants of concern”.