MORE than one in five close contacts of people with coronavirus are not being reached by the test and trace system in Dorset, amid a record number of new positive cases.

Data from the Department for Health and Social care shows 5,691 people who tested positive for Covid-19 in Dorset were transferred to the Test and Trace service between May 28 and January 6.

That means 1,325 new cases were transferred in the latest seven-day period – the largest increase since the regime began.

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 13,410 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 77.9 per cent of those were reached, meaning 2,961 people were not contacted or did not respond.

That was up from the 74.5 per cent reached in the period to December 30.

Across England, 92.7 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 January 6.

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

The contact tracing rate including these cases was 92.7 per cent, up from 92.4 per cent the week before.

Around 388,000 new cases were transferred nationally in the week to January 6.