TEST and trace has missed hundreds of Warrington residents who have come into contact with coronavirus patients, according to the Labour Party.

Analysis by the opposition has revealed that 250,000 contacts in England who need to self-isolate were not been traced last week alone – including 26,000 in the north west.

In Warrington, 1,229 people were identified during this period as having come into contact with someone who subsequently tested positive for Covid-19.

Of this number, 741 – or 60.3 per cent – have been traced and told to self-isolate.

But the remaining 488 have not yet been contacted through the test and trace system.

Labour labelled the test and trace system as ‘failing and disastrous’, and has called on the government to introduce a circuit breaker lockdown for two to three weeks in order to tackle the second wave.

Shadow cabinet minister Rachel Reeves said: “We are at a decisive moment in our efforts to tackle coronavirus, and these figures are a new low for a test and trace system on the verge of collapse.

“Tests are taking too long, leaving NHS and keyworkers vulnerable.

“And the abysmal contact tracing system has failed to reach a quarter of a million close contacts of people with the virus.

“The Government is wasting hundreds of millions on a system that doesn’t seem to function or even use basic common sense.

“We are beyond the tipping point with the test and trace system.

“Without our local councils working day in day out to pick up the pieces, contact tracing would have all but collapsed.

“The Prime Minister must act now to reverse this trend.

“That is why Labour is calling for a short, sharp circuit break to fix testing, protect the NHS and save lives.”