A PUBLIC health boss has revealed how NHS data has exposed that a significant proportion of residents are not self-isolating, despite payments being offered to do so.

While Darlington has the third lowest rate of Covid-19 infection in the North-East, a meeting of the borough’s council heard due to the borough’s population being just over 100,000 “all you need is a damn good house party in Darlington” and the rate would appear to rise markedly.

Penny Spring, the borough’s director of public health, told the health and housing scrutiny committee the borough would only be allowed to progress to Road Map step three after May 17, where groups of up to 30 people are allowed to meet outside, if progress on tackling infection rates continued.

She said while safe behaviours, such as the correct wearing of face masks and thorough hand-washing was crucial, self-isolation was “one of the biggest challenges we have at the moment”.

Ms Spring said: “We are always trying to find new ways to encourage people to self-isolate.

“My concern is knowing from the data that a proportion of our population are not self-isolating for a number of reasons. It concerns me. What I’m planning to do is have a deep dive to see what we can do and what we can do that’s different.

“People who self-isolate can get a payment – it’s positive. But we have people Darlington who have a number of jobs and for many people the importance is actually earning the money that they need.”

People who been told to self-isolate by NHS Test and Trace, or are the parent or guardian of a child who has been told to self-isolate, are being invited by the Government to apply for a one-off payment of £500.

However, the meeting heard NHS Track and Trace had found numerous people who tested positive for the virus did not answer their phones to NHS officials seeking to find out key information, or even that some phone numbers given to the NHS were incorrect.

Councillors were told Darlington’s council had joined a Local Tracing Partnership, where the NHS delegated problematic Track and Trace cases to local authorities, in the hope people would be more likely to answer a call from a local phone number.

Ms Spring said: “We’re doing really well with our testing rates, but as things open up we could see the numbers go up.

“I’m hoping that everybody will the follow the measures that we put in place to protect them, but if not we will be taking action in a positive way.”

Councillor Mary Layton welcomed the self-isolation inquiry, but questioned the effectiveness of the system and the available information.

She suggested people were struggling to self-isolate as they thought it was a lengthy and difficult process.

She said: “I can appreciate on paper what the support is like, but sometimes it is about accessing it.”