Among the world’s wealthiest nations, Britain had the second-highest death toll from the coronavirus in the first wave of the pandemic, behind the United States. Adjusted for population, Britain’s toll was the third highest https://reut.rs/3fsPgXi ">https://reut.rs/3fsPgXi&q... 1/6

After enduring a three-month lockdown in the spring, Britons hoped that Boris Johnson’s government would put in place a new strategy to protect the nation through the winter. But with infections spreading and deaths reaching about 350 per day, England entered another lockdown 2/6

The government’s failure to share full data on the disease’s spread with local authorities and the public gave a false impression of success, concealing what one health expert called an & #39;iceberg& #39; of infection 3/6

A @Reuters analysis reveals that England manages to trace just one non-household contact – someone who doesn’t live with the infected person – for every two identified cases of COVID-19. That compares to over 20 contacts for each single case in Singapore and Taiwan 4/6

The reason for this dysfunction, @Reuters reporting shows, lies in a disjointed design and a government preference, contrary to some advice, for national solutions. While tests and contact tracing expanded, they did so in an inefficient way 5/6

Johnson was under political pressure from his own party to ease restrictions that were damaging the economy. He then announced the creation of a & #39;world-beating& #39; contact-tracing service. Read more on the UK& #39;s fight against a second COVID-19 wave https://reut.rs/3fsPgXi ">https://reut.rs/3fsPgXi&q... 6/6