‘No clear evidence’ NHS Test and Trace has worked, say MPs

It’s costing £37 billion over two years, but it’s unclear whether it’s working. That’s the verdict of MPs on the Test and Trace system in England. The Public Accounts Committee says the project remains too reliant on expensive consultants, and needs to publish more evidence to prove that its “staggering costs” are justified.

The latest government figures show that in the last 24 hours a further 190 people are reported to have died with Covid, bringing the UK total to 124,987. There have been just under 6,000 new cases in the UK.

Some 217,000 people received their first dose of the Covid vaccine yesterday, and 22.8 million people have now received their first dose of a vaccine.