NHS is accused of wasting 'eye-watering' amount of money as main 'test and trace' contract costs taxpayers £900 per person contacted

Private firm Serco has a £108million 13-week deal to get in touch with people who test positive and their close contacts and encourage them to isolate for two weeks.

But figures uncovered by Labour show that after nine weeks only 83,000 people have been contacted, at a cost to the taxpayer of £902.50 for each one.

The NHS test and trace system has been beset by delays and is failing to reach enough people to be effective.

Thousands of contact tracers have been employed but many have no work to do. The Serco revelation comes a day after it emerged the government had paid £150million for masks that cannot be used.

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