A report into Cheshire West's coronavirus test and trace system has suggested the council look into opening its own 'fully localised' scheme.

The report, conducted by CWAC's Covid-19 scrutiny committee, highlighted capacity issues in saying that 'some of the recent delays in receiving test results back were as a result of lack of [laboratory] capacity'.

Alongside this it was revealed that, despite opening new testing sites in the past few weeks, resources were being stretched and only a tiny section of residents had been tested.

It said: "The task group was advised that all Cheshire West test sites are now running at 100 percent capacity.

"The number of positivity rates in Cheshire West was now higher than in September 2020 and the number of people who were being tested had now reached 5,000. (1.4 percent of the local population)."

Furthermore, those who tried to access the system experienced a multitude of problems.

The report added: "A wealth of complaints had been received from people unable to access testing.

"The council was looking to open more testing sites which would help to improve accessibility and decrease any inequalities associated with accessing a test within the borough."

This issue was compounded by what the scrutiny committee calls 'sporadic' government announcements on testing policy changes which were 'often heard through public releases'.

Based on these concerns, councillors concluded by recommending CWAC officials look into the possibility of setting up their own test and trace mechanism: "The scrutiny task group agreed that the Council explores what would be involved [in] establishing a full localised system, such as costs and what laboratory capacity is available in Cheshire West.

"The potential project would need to be scoped so that the challenge and the associated commissioning costs can be [undertaken] before seeking funding from government."