The Guardian view on test and trace: count the true cost of failure

Before the vaccine, Britain's pandemic defences were in a scandalous state. The government must still be held to account for its failures

Contact tracing was once advertised as the centrepiece of the government's strategy for managing the pandemic. The coronavirus would be held at bay and other nations would be in awe at Britain's world-beating" system. Neither goal was achieved.

A report, published on Wednesday by the Commons public accounts committee, struggled to find evidence that NHS test and trace has made a significant difference in reducing transmission. That is not to say it did nothing. Hundreds of thousands of daily tests have been administered. In the second half of last year, 2.5 million people who tested positive were contacted and a further 4.5 million people were told to self-isolate. (How many did so and for how long is another question.)