Matt Hancock in new U-turn on coronavirus testing data

Health secretary finally bows to pressure to hand over full facts about positive tests to council health officials

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The health secretary, Matt Hancock, has bowed to pressure from councils, which demanded full access to the names and data of people in their areas who tested positive for Covid-19, and those with whom they have been in contact, in another major government U-turn.

Local authorities and public health officials have been complaining for weeks that they are being hampered in efforts to combat and prevent local outbreaks by lack of access to named patient data" which would allow them to get straight to the sources of local outbreaks.