Test and Trace cost £37bn and made no measurable difference – and its ineffectiveness was clear from the start. Lessons must be learned from such a colossal waste of resources.
South East Asian countries are experiencing their deadliest Covid waves to date despite the milder Omicron variant being dominant and high vaccination rates. This was not part of anyone's plan.
Despite being in the epicentre of Omicron, South Africa's 'SAGE' committee has told the Government to end all contact tracing and self-isolation of contacts for Covid because it is unnecessary and ineffective.
Despite a previous Commons Select Committee report concluding that the scheme was a colossal waste of money, Test and Trace is continuing to spend over £1 million a day in taxpayer money on consultants.
A recent viral tweet implies that if the UK had used contact tracing like Korea, we could have achieved the same outcomes. Yet we ploughed £37 billion into Test and Trace, and it still failed to halt the epidemic.
Test and Trace call centre staff are being laid off because there aren't enough 'cases' to keep them busy, with some being sacked just weeks after they were hired, according to reports.
Some industry leaders say that the end of self-isolation rules for double jabbed Brits who are 'pinged' is "dangerous" and "totally illogical", adding that staff who choose to stay at home should be supported.
Are Brits beginning to rebel against the 'pingdemic'? Official figures show that almost a quarter of the 250,000 people contacted by Test and Trace two weeks ago refused to disclose their recent close contacts.
The end of self-isolation rules for fully vaccinated Brits could be delayed past August 16th, the Policing Minister has suggested, saying that we will have to "wait and see" what the scientists advise.
Studies have shown that when people observe norms being violated, they become more likely to violate norms themselves. Has the government been undermining social norms by imposing inconvenient rules it can’t enforce?
