Johnson Says U.K. Track-And-Trace System Will Be in Place June 1

(Bloomberg) --

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the U.K. will have a track-and-trace system in place by June 1 capable of dealing with 10,000 new coronavirus infections a day.

Johnson has previously said that a system of tracing infections is essential to lifting the U.K.’s lockdown. Answering questions in Parliament on Wednesday, he didn’t refer to the mobile phone app that the government is developing and which is now overdue, instead focusing on hiring thousands of people to work as contact tracers.

“There will be 25,000 trackers,” Johnson said. “They will be able to cope with 10,000 new cases a day.” He said new infections were currently running at a rate of 2,500 a day.

An effective track and trace system is seen as vital to help persuade teachers’ unions to tell their members to go back to work, allowing schools to reopen next month. Ministers have said they want schools to start to resume classes from as soon as June 1.

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.