More than a third of close contacts of people with coronavirus are still not being reached by the test and trace system in Thurrock, figures suggest.

Data from the Department for Health and Social care shows 2,889 people who tested positive for Covid-19 in Thurrock were transferred to the Test and Trace service between May 28 and December 2.

That means 360 new cases were transferred in the latest seven-day period.

Contact tracers ask new patients to give details for anyone they were in close contact with in the 48 hours before their symptoms started.

This led to 5,825 close contacts being identified over the period – those not managed by local health protection teams, which are dealt with through a call centre or online.

But just 66% of those were reached, meaning 1,979 people were not contacted or did not respond.

That was up from the 62.7% reached in the period to November 25, and was the lowest proportion in the East of England, where 61.8% of contacts were reached on average.

Across England, 84.7% of contacts not managed by local health protection teams were reached and told to self-isolate by NHS Test and Trace in the latest week to December 2.

Local health protection teams deal with cases linked to settings such as hospitals, schools and prisons.

The contact tracing rate including these cases was 85.7%, up from 72.6% the week before.

Around 92,000 new cases were transferred nationally in the week to December 2.