Bradford Council has launched a new local level contact tracing model, which will support the NHS test and trace programme.
The fight to tackle the worlds biggest health pandemic continues as we take responsibility not just on a national level but on a local level.
This model was piloted in Leicester and has now been rolled out across a number of local authorities, which allows local authorities to use their own local expertise and resources to increase the proportion of people reached by the Test and Trace programme.
Contact tracing helps to identify those people who are at a high risk of infection, as they may have been in close contact with someone who has tested positive for COVID-19.
With COVID-19 infection rates in Bradford continuing to increase other local action is being taken to contain the COVID 19 virus in our District, particularly in areas where we know the numbers of positive cases are higher.
Teams of volunteers and council staff will be out on the streets of Bradford to share health messages, support on staying safe as well as stating how we can all reduce the spread of the virus by adhering to hygiene guidelines as this pandemic continues to kill.
Testing remains important in our fight against COVID 19. Free and easy to use home testing kits will be delivered to households, by the volunteers, with instructions on how to carry out a test and will then be collected by the volunteers. If anyone tests positive as having COVID-19 they will then be notified and asked to give vital information that will help us understand where the virus is and where we need to focus local action.
Sarah Muckle, Director of Public Health at Bradford Council said:
“The virus is still out there and we have seen an increase in infection rates over the last few weeks in Bradford and so its imperative that we focus all our efforts in this next step to target those high risk areas in order to rid us of COVID-19. All of our volunteers are fully trained and have a wealth of local knowledge which allows them to support the groups through face to face contact.
As well as having these home testing kits we still have a good presence of testing units across Bradford district for everyone to use.”
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