NEARLY three in 10 close contacts of people with coronavirus are not being reached by the test and trace system in Hampshire, figures suggest.

Data from the Department for Health and Social care shows 17,063 people who tested positive for Covid-19 in Hampshire were transferred to the Test and Trace service between May 28 and December 16.

That means 1,945 new cases were transferred in the latest seven-day period.

Contact tracers ask new patients to give details for anyone they were in close contact with in the 48 hours before their symptoms started.

This led to 40,619 close contacts being identified over the period – those not managed by local health protection teams, which are dealt with through a call centre or online.

But just 71.9 per cent of those were reached, meaning 11,404 people were not contacted or did not respond.

That was up from the 69.7 per cent reached in the period to December 9

Across England, 92.5 per cent of contacts not managed by local health protection teams were reached and told to self-isolate by NHS Test and Trace in the latest week to December 16.

Local health protection teams deal with cases linked to settings such as hospitals, schools and prisons.

The contact tracing rate including these cases was 92.6 per cent, down from 92.7 per cent the week before.

Around 139,000 new cases were transferred nationally in the week to December 16.