Many of you say this is the most brilliant thing you have read on the pandemic.
Quite right. Everyone should read it and pass it on.
Because it points to the key thing that is wrong in the UK response and what must be done to get it right.
Let me explain. https://twitter.com/ReicherStephen/status/1312691618395365376

This infection spreads in clusters. So if we can identify the source of those clusters, we can then trace all those affected, get them to self isolate and so stop transmission. An effective system to do that would allow us to live more normal lives.

That means tthat, once we find a case the most important thing is to see who they got it from not who they gave it to. It is through such backwards contract tracing, rather than forward contact tracing that we find the source.

Backwards contact tracing is like detective work, finding out where people have been, knowing which sites are important and hence what leads to follow. It depends upon knowing your patch. It certainly can't be done by outsiders from afar.

And that's why contact tracing through national telephone centres where those involved haven't a clue about the localities in which infections occur is never going to be as effective as a local public health based tracing system.

It is also why we need an urgent shift to create a test and trace system able to do the job. If the government really is following the science, it needs to admit its mistakes, junk the present system and put testing and tracing back in the hands of local public health bodies.