Without a functioning test and trace system, Britain is poorly defended – why can’t this government get it right?

Editorial: Other countries, some equally badly prepared at the start of the pandemic, have long since managed to put something in place. Yet the UK still lags behind

(Reuters)

When will Britain have a test and trace system that works? A system that doesn’t rely on old-fashioned spreadsheets, one that doesn’t cost taxpayers £12bn in payments to private contractors, without penalties for failure, and one where those in charge, such as Baroness Dido Harding, are held publicly accountable for its poor performance?

When will we have a system that doesn’t require people to travel hundreds of miles for a test, one where the result doesn’t arrive too late to be of use? Never mind the home secretary telling the Conservative Party conference that the asylum system is “broken”, when will the test and trace regime be fixed?  

It is surely not too much to ask, given the time that has elapsed since the outbreak of Covid-19 and the billions committed to the project. Ministers have been promising this “key” defence against the virus since the spring (shortly after the shortage of national capacity forced the government to abandon any attempt to control the spread of the virus). Still we wait.