The local Member of Parliament for Torfaen, Nick Thomas-Symonds, has today hailed the success of the Welsh Government’s contact tracing strategy following a virtual visit to Torfaen’s Test, Trace and Protect team last week.

Unlike contact tracing in other parts of the United Kingdom, Test, Trace and Protect, the Welsh Government’s strategy for testing the general public and tracing the spread of coronavirus in Wales, has been highly effective. Welsh Government statistics released yesterday revealed that since 21st June, of the total 167,886 positive cases that were eligible for follow-up, 167,226 – 99.6% – were contacted and asked to provide details of their recent contacts, and of the 404,175 close contacts that were eligible for follow-up, 382,494 or 95% were successfully reached and advised accordingly, or had their case otherwise resolved. The Torfaen MP praised the hard work of the staff behind the statistics and said they showed that the Welsh Labour Government’s local strategy was the “right approach”.

The success of the Welsh Government’s strategy for cutting transmission has been made possible by the robustness of its public health system and the decision not to outsource but to instead utilise local expertise in contact tracing, already substantial before the pandemic. Contact tracing is delivered by local contact tracing teams organised by local health boards and local authorities, such as Torfaen Torfaen Test, Trace and Protect, who Nick Thomas-Symonds MP spoke with during a virtual visit alongside Senedd Member Lynne Neagle and Torfaen County Borough Council Leader Anthony Hunt last Friday. Following the virtual event, Mr Thomas-Symonds MP commented:

“Thank you to Torfaen Test, Trace and Protect. Great to see the results of all your hard work and to get the chance to thank everyone involved for what they have done to keep people safe.”

In his statement released today after the publication of the Welsh Government statistics, the Torfaen MP said:

“In Wales, the Labour Government’s local contact tracing strategy has been more than 99% effective.

These are stunning statistics that confirm what we knew all along. They show that local contact tracing is the right approach to tackling the spread of this virus and saving lives. Thank you to all our local contact tracing teams, such as the staff working at Torfaen Test, Trace and Protect who I met last week, for all your hard work.

In Wales, we know the value of a Labour Government and a Labour approach. In England, the Conservative Government’s top-down approach with outsourcing has not delivered in the same way.”

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