Matt Hancock giggles during interview as he is grilled on contact tracing

Matt Hancock was rebuked for giggling uncontrollably in an interview today as he faced questions over coronavirus contact tracing.

The Health Secretary was told it was ‘not a laughing matter’ as he chuckled at suggestions he had rushed the system in before it is actually ready.

Sky News presenter Kay Burley pointed out that Mr Hancock had previously branded the app ‘absolutely essential’. 

‘You said the app was absolutely essential to track and trace. The app is still not ready,’ she said.

But as Mr Hancock dissolved into laughter, she added: ‘Many of my viewers will think it is not a laughing matter.’ 

Labour’s Rosena Allin-Khan – a hospital doctor – also waded in later, saying the death of tens of thousands of people was ‘not a joke’. 

NHS Test and Trace – seen as key to easing lockdown – is being rolled out across England with the help of 25,000 contact tracers, but the accompanying app is still delayed by several weeks.  

Under the plans, anyone with symptoms will immediately self-isolate and book a test, either at a testing centre or delivered to their home. Their household should start a 14-day isolation period too.

If the test proves negative, everyone comes out of isolation. But if the test is positive, NHS contact tracers or local public health teams will call, email or send a text asking them to share details of the people they have been in close contact with and places they have visited.

The team then emails or texts those close contacts, telling them they must stay home for 14 days even if they have no symptoms, to avoid unknowingly spreading the virus. 

However, there are questions about the level of expertise of contact tracers, with claims basic systems are up and running. There are also fears up to two million people could be in isolation at any given time – with doubts over whether some will be willing to stop work if they are only getting statutory sick pay. 

As he laughed off criticism over the app delay, Mr Hancock argued that the target of getting contact tracing up and running by June 1 had still been met. 

‘It’s priceless, Kay. I’m normally accused of delaying these things and bringing them in too slowly… you can’t accuse me both of rushing it and it being delayed,’ he said. 

Mr Hancock insisted the Government is moving at ‘just at the right speed’ with the test and trace plan. 

‘One of the things we learnt in the pilot on the Isle of Wight was that getting people used to that idea is important to do before we then also add the technological capability, the app, on top,’ he said. 

The tracing system got off to a rocky start today, with staff employed to warn Britons they may have been infected struggling to log on.

One called the arrangements a ‘complete shambles’ after revealing they had not even received their password to access the website and start their shift while another questioned why the Covid-19 system wasn’t perfect before it went live. 

The back end IT crashed this morning, stopping many workers from getting in.. 

Shocking pictures today also showed deserted drive-through testing centres in Twickenham, Heathrow, Edinburgh and Chessington in Surrey, while flat-pack furniture giant Ikea reclaimed a key swabbing location in west London because it plans to reopen to the public in the coming weeks.

Meanwhile, NHS chiefs warned ‘key bits’ of the system are not yet operational and it cannot be described as ‘world class’. MPs said they were told by the head of NHS Test and Trace, Baroness Dido Harding, that the local element will not be fully in place until the end of June. 

One worker manning the phones today told MailOnline she had been paid to sit and do nothing today, and warned there was ‘nothing we can do’ about infected Brits who refuse to hand over the names and telephone numbers of people they came into close contact with. 

The former shop assistant, who asked not to be named, said she was being paid £75 a day – regardless if she made any calls.