Boris Johnson has pledged to have a UK-wide tracing operation to tackle coronavirus in place by 1 June run by 25,000 contact tracers. His commitment at prime minister’s questions in the Commons came as the Labour leader, Keir Starmer, said there had been no effective tracing in the country for 10 weeks. Johnson said: “I have great confidence that by 1 June we will have a system that will enable us, help us, very greatly to defeat this disease and move the country forward.” Johnson also said the controversial NHS surcharge for staff from outside the European Economic Area who work in healthcare would remain in place, explaining that despite giving it some thought he believed it was important because of the money it made for the NHS. The fee is due to rise from £400 to £624 in October, although doctors, nurses and paramedics are exempt from the payment for a year. Care workers are not included in the exemption.
Starmer said there had been no effective tracing system in place since 12 March, when the government decided to drop the strategy, unlike in Germany and South Korea, which have had much lower death rates. “That’s nearly 10 weeks in a critical period without effective tracing. That’s a huge hole in our defences, isn’t it prime minister?” Starmer asked. Johnson said during the exchange that he had growing confidence that England would have a test, track and trace operation that would be “world-beating” by 1 June. “There will be 25,000 trackers. They will be able to cope with 10,000 new cases a day. “That’s very, very important because currently new cases are running at 2,500 a day. They will be able to trace the contacts for those new cases and to stop the disease spreading,” Johnson said. Despite the social distancing in the chamber, it was a more rowdy PMQs than in recent weeks. The health secretary, Matt Hancock, frustrated the Speaker, who warned him to “stop advising the opposition” or leave the chamber. He had been heckling Starmer from behind the prime minister. Labour is calling for the government to drop the NHS surcharge for all health and care workers indefinitely and is due to table an amendment to the immigration bill to exempt them from the charge.
Starmer asked the prime minister if he thought it was right that care workers coming from abroad working on the frontline should pay a surcharge to use the NHS themselves. Johnson said: “I’ve thought a great deal about this. I do accept and I do understand the difficulties faced by our amazing NHS staff. I’ve been the personal beneficiary of carers who come from abroad and, frankly, saved my life … so I know exactly the importance. “On the other hand we must look at the realities. This is a great national service, it’s a national institution. It needs funding and those contributions actually help us to raise about £900m and it’s very difficult in the current circumstances to find alternative sources. “With great respect to the point he makes, I do think that that is the right way.” Johnson was recently treated in intensive care for coronavirus by a nurse from New Zealand, whose citizens have to pay the surcharge if they come to work in the UK.