PMQs: Sir Keir Starmer presses Boris Johnson on take a look at and hint

Sir Keir Starmer has pressed Boris Johnson on the effectiveness of the NHS take a look at and hint system in England, throughout Prime Minister’s Questions.

The Labour chief stated it was a “large drawback” that simply over 10,000 individuals with coronavirus had been reached, regardless of estimates of 33,000 instances.

However Mr Johnson criticised Sir Keir for not supporting authorities actions.

The PM additionally dismissed questions in regards to the monitoring app for many who come into contact with the virus.

Sir Keir started his questioning by saying Labour supported the federal government’s announcement on Tuesday to ease extra lockdown restrictions in England from four July.

However he stated for it to work safely “we want an efficient monitor, hint and isolate system”.

He added: “The prime minister promised a world-beating system can be in place by 1 June.

“I do recognise the arduous work that has gone into this, but when two thirds of these with Covid-19 aren’t being reached and requested to offer contact particulars, there’s a large drawback, is not there?”

Mr Johnson claimed Sir Keir had been “surprised by the success of the take a look at and hint operation”, including: “Opposite to his prognostications of gloom, it’s got up and working a lot sooner than doubters anticipated.”

He stated 87,000 contacts of those that examined optimistic for coronavirus had been reached, and referred to as for his counterpart to “pay tribute” to the workforce engaged on the system.

However Sir Keir accused the prime minister of “not addressing the query”.

The Labour chief stated the quantity of people that weren’t reached meant a “large hole” was within the system, including: “The prime minister dangers making the errors he made firstly of the pandemic – brushing apart problem, dashing ahead and never estimating correctly the chance.”

Mr Johnson accused Sir Keir of “inadvertently giving a misunderstanding of what take a look at and hint is doing”, claiming it’s contacting “the overwhelming majority of those that take a look at optimistic and their very own contacts and getting them to isolate”.

He referred to as it a “formidable achievement”, and stated Labour was “yo-yoing again right into a place of opposition”.

Sir Keir reiterated his help for lockdown easing, however stated the PM was “incorrect to reject problem”, including: “65,000 individuals have misplaced their lives due to Covid-19. The prime minister ought to welcome problem that would save lives quite than complaining about it.”

Monitoring app

The Labour chief then questioned the PM about when a cell phone app to trace individuals who had been involved with others carrying the virus can be up and working.

He stated it was the “solely means of monitoring unknown contacts”, corresponding to individuals on seashores or in a park, who had been in shut contact with each other.

The Labour chief quoted Well being Secretary Matt Hancock – who referred to as the app “crucial” in Could, however later stated it was “solely ever extra help” – asking the PM, “Which is it?”

Mr Johnson stated there was “not a single nation on this planet that has a purposeful contract tracing app”, however England’s take a look at and tracing system was working.

Sir Keir stated Germany had a working app with 12 million downloads, earlier than pushing the prime minister on quite a lot of delays to the app and its price of £12m.

“Different nations are forward of us,” he stated. “When are we going to have a working app?”

The PM stated his reverse quantity was “utterly incorrect” about Germany, and stated the federal government had “all the time been utterly clear that the app was the icing on the cake”.

He concluded: “What we do have is a unbelievable NHS take a look at and hint operation that’s already up and working, that’s going to get higher and higher, and will likely be indispensable to our future success.”