A properly functioning test, track and trace programme is absolutely vital if we're going to get out of lockdown safely and see our loved ones again.
Sadly, what we currently have in England couldn't be further than properly functioning. A privatised national system managed by the notorious Serco has been disastrously handled, and put our communities at risk.
Local communities across the country have had enough. Councils are taking matters into their own hands as a result of Serco's failures.
The map below shows where local councils have set up their alternative systems after getting sick of Serco.
It shouldn't have to be like this. We shouldn't have to put up with Serco's incompetence, cash-strapped councils shouldn't have to set up their own systems while the government hands out multi-million pound contracts to private companies and as Sandwell's Director of Public Health put it, the public shouldn't have to be "paying twice" for the system - once for Serco's failings and once more for local public health protection teams to deliver it effectively.
It's time for the government to face reality. It's time for them to scrap Serco and fund local public health teams to run test, track and trace.