Police and fire staff drafted in to help Test and Trace in Greater Manchester

Police community support officers and fire service staff will be drafted in to trace contacts of coronavirus cases as part of new plans announced by the mayor of Greater Manchester.

Speaking at an online press conference on Wednesday, Andy Burnham said only 54% of named contacts of people who had tested positive for coronavirus were being contacted by the NHS Test and Trace system in the area, with more than 3,600 people a week not being reached.

He said: "Test, trace and isolate is not working well enough for Greater Manchester at the moment and we have only a small number of weeks to fix it before we go into the really tough time which lies ahead in the autumn and into the winter.''

He said he had written to the Government to set out proposals for "escalating'' the response to coronavirus in Greater Manchester.

They include a new command centre, which would be set up with the specific task of getting through to 80% of contacts.

He added: "We have agreements from Greater Manchester Police and Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service to mobilise a number of police community support officers (PCSOs) and fire safety staff to focus their efforts on contacting the contacts that are currently not being reached in Greater Manchester by the national system.''

He said more than 100 PCSOs and 100 fire safety officers would staff the system, which he said would not be "sustainable over the long term'' but was "right to do''.

He also called on businesses to give employees permission and financial support to self-isolate if asked to do so by the NHS Test and Trace system and said a self-isolation support service was being set up by the Greater Manchester Growth Company.

Mr Burnham said a "relentless focus'' on fixing the Test and Trace scheme could prevent further restrictions.

"It can't be the case going forward that we fail to fix test, trace and isolate and we then just do what feels the more easy thing, just throwing blanket restrictions at people,'' he said.

"I just don't think people will accept that.''

Mr Burnham said he hoped the new system could be up and running as soon as possible, possibly within "days rather than weeks''.

He said: "It's a big commitment on our behalf but it's one that we felt was the right thing to do.''