[5] NHS Test and Trace's remit is to find people who have come into close contact with those infected by the virus, thus enabling the lifting of blanket lockdown restrictions and a potential shift towards more localised measures should they be required.

[23] If they do not respond, in some areas NHS Test and Trace passes their details to a team employed by the local authority, who make further attempts by phone or text and in some cases by home visit.

[40] "Pillar two" provided mass testing – at first to key workers, later to the general public – using a new network of large processing centres operated by commercial companies and universities,[40] coordinated by Deloitte.

[42] Geneticist Paul Nurse, director of the Francis Crick Institute, repurposed academic laboratories to perform tests and later criticised the government's reliance on the private sector.

[47] The Scottish lab was subject to delays and in January its construction was halted, as the UK government was reported to be assessing the long-term demand for the laboratory.

[50] The Leamington Spa lab, described as the UK's first testing mega-lab, began operation in June 2021[51] and was later named as the Rosalind Franklin Laboratory, in honour of the pioneering scientist in molecular biology.

[54] The system was designed to work in conjunction with the NHS COVID-19 app, which was originally announced for mid-May but subsequently delayed due to technical issues during its testing phase.

"[57] Replying to a question at the government's daily briefing on 11 June, Hancock was unable to give any date for rollout of the app, saying it would be brought in "when it's right to do so".

Between 24 September 2020[62] and 18 July 2021 it was mandatory for hospitality, tourism and leisure venues, hairdressers and similar services, and local authority amenities to display a code.

[63] From early July 2020, establishments where people came into prolonged contact with those from other households were asked to collect the names and phone numbers of staff, customers, and visitors, and to keep those records for 21 days.

Applicable establishments included all hospitality outlets except takeaway food and drink, tourism and leisure, community facilities, places of worship, and close contact services such as hairdressers.

[64] From 18 September, hospitality venues were required to refuse entry to a customer or visitor when they (or the leader of their group) had neither provided contact details nor scanned the official QR code using the NHS COVID-19 app.

The Department of Health and Social Care encouraged people in England to self-test twice a week in order to detect asymptomatic cases, which are reportedly as many as 1 in 3 infections.

[81] The launch of the system in England – branded for the first time as NHS Test and Trace – was announced by Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister on 27 May 2020, and it went live the next day,[82] before it was fully ready.

[8] News that the service would be established without the phone app led to concerns manual tracing alone would not be effective enough to slow the spread of the virus.

[95] Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester, said on 2 September that resources from the national test and trace system had not yet been released to local authorities.

[101] Later that month, the BBC reported criticism from councils concerning delays, missing contact details and lack of access to the central IT system.

Overall speed would be increased by March 2021, with a goal of 72 hours for the interval starting when a person books a test (which turns out to be positive) and ending when around 80% of their contacts have been notified.

[109] From 28 September 2020 until 23 February 2022, employed people who were asked to isolate were eligible for a £500 payment if they were unable to work at home and were receiving certain state benefits or had a low income.

[111] Statistical reports from NHS Test and Trace began to include managed quarantine after the scheme's first five weeks, 15 February to 17 March; by that time 289,000 people had entered the system, 282,000 of them "at home" and 6,400 at a hotel.

Steve McManus has been the director of contact tracing since autumn 2020, on a six-month secondment from his role as chief executive of Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust.

[118] Earlier directors include Tom Riordan (for three months from mid-May 2020, alongside his role as CEO of Leeds City Council)[119][120] and Haroona Franklin (brought in from HM Revenue and Customs in July).

[120] Susan Hopkins, a director in Public Health England's National Infection Service,[122] held the position of Interim Chief Medical Adviser in September 2020.

[132] Analysis by Sky News on 17 September found three factors causing strain on the system: the decision to reserve 100,000 tests per day (50% of capacity) for care home residents and staff; a surge in demand from schools; and the resurgence of the pandemic earlier than the expected October or November.

[144] A sister company, Dante Labs, was at that time under investigation by the Competition and Markets Authority over concerns that PCR tests for travellers had been mishandled.

[155] In July, medical academic Prof Allyson Pollock wrote that the programme was "about as far from integrated or effective as you can get" and called on the government to publish details of its contracts with outsourcing companies.

"[164] During the contact tracing app trial on the Isle of Wight, the Chartered Trading Standards Institute found evidence of a phishing scam.

[166] In July, it was reported that workers on contract were sharing patients’ confidential information on social media support groups, due to a lack of alternative means to solve problems within their teams.

[167] On 20 July, privacy campaigners the Open Rights Group obtained an admission from government lawyers that NHS Test and Trace was operating unlawfully and breached General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) because an overarching impact assessment had not been carried out.

Northern Ireland became the first constituent country to reintroduce contact tracing when, on 23 April 2020, its Chief Medical Officer, Michael McBride, announced that a scheme was "active".