It would be unforgivable for Boris Johnson to lift the lockdown too soon

Editorial: The point is that the weaker the test and trace system, and the less the public cooperate with it, the riskier the exit from lockdown becomes

For all its grievous failings, not least on coronavirus testing and tracking, the government cannot be entirely blamed for the shortcomings revealed in the first figures published on the new testing regime. Fully one third of people who tested positive for Covid-19 refused or otherwise failed to identify their contacts and help in telling them to self-isolate for 14 days.

One week into the new system, it is not known yet how many of the contacts that have been identified will in reality stay at home in full lockdown for the required time. Given shortcomings in childcare and sick pay, many will feel that they have no alternative but to carry on travelling to work, perhaps on public transport. The system, then, is rather leaky and suggests a much lower level of public support and compliance than prevailed in the initial weeks of lockdown.

The health and social care secretary, Matt Hancock, is making ever more desperate appeals to “civic duty”. That seems to be against the national mood. Part of this must be a long-term trend towards mistrust in data security held by large organisations; part of it will also be down to a general impression that lockdown is being generally abandoned (in England) with tacit political approval; and a portion of those ignoring the requests of tracing workers will be following the unfortunate example of Dominic Cummings, the prime minister’s chief adviser, whose cavalier attitude to the rules is well documented. Ever more intricate rules, such as on “bubbles”, are also harder to understand and follow.