'I tested positive for coronavirus, but none of my contacts were phoned by Test and Protect'

A person uses the Scottish Government's Covid-19 app. Picture: Jeff J Mitchell

When Jamie Stevenson* woke up on Christmas Day to a text message telling him he had tested positive for coronavirus, his first thought was for his friends.

In the days before he began feeling unwell, he had met two separate friends for coffee in indoor cafes in Edinburgh where he lives. He had also visited an art gallery and used his regular gym, where he had seen a number of people he knew while working out.

He recalls: “On the Wednesday evening, I started feeling unwell, then on Christmas Eve morning, I went online and booked a test. I got one really quickly, that part of this was very efficient. Then, I switched my phone on on Christmas Day morning and got a message saying I had tested positive. It was my first Christmas message. Happy Christmas.”

Mr Stevenson, who has now largely recovered from his illness, believes that luckily, none of his contacts became infected with coronavirus.

However, despite him passing on their details to Test and Protect, not one of them - nor any of the businesses he had visited - were contacted by the authorities to be told to isolate.

He says: “I reported online all of the people I had been in contact with and everywhere I had been - which was two individuals and four businesses. That was followed up by a phone call from Test and Protect.

“However, neither of the people whose details I gave to Test and Protect were ever contacted. They both isolated anyway, because they are both sensible people, but they were never contacted.”

He has since also checked with the businesses affected - which under law, have to keep other customers’ details for contact tracing purposes - and found that none of them had received a call from Test and Protect.

Stevenson says: “A friend of mine who was at the gym with me on the Wednesday morning - one of only three people there - was never contacted.

“I’ve also asked the owner of the coffee shop I was at for over an hour if they had been contacted and he told me that they hadn’t had a word. It looks like none of these businesses and people were contacted at all.

“It concerns me as it just made me think ‘this isn’t working’. It has to work to keep infections down, it’s a crucial part of the whole thing and if that’s not working, it’s really quite alarming.”