Contact tracers are getting a poorer response to requests for people to test themselves or self-isolate as the public is “fed up” of the pandemic, Gwynedd councillors have been told.

The Test, Trace and Protect (TTP) service is responsible for trying to limit the spread of the virus by getting in touch with those identified as a close contact of anyone testing positive for coronavirus.

While close contacts no longer have to automatically self-isolate if double jabbed and showing no symptoms, they are still urged to arrange a PCR test.

But Gwynedd Council Cabinet meeting was told that contact tracers have noted a shift in general response as more people are vaccinated and Covid fatigue continues to play a part.

Gwynedd’s head of the regulatory department, Dafydd Williams, told Cabinet members: “At the peak there were over 100 members of staff, funded by Welsh Government of course, facing some substantial challenges that have changed as the pandemic has evolved over the past 18 months.

“At the beginning we were training staff, getting people in place and our residents on the whole welcomed that contact because they felt that we were protecting them.

“By now of course, our communities are fed up of the pandemic and the response to those doing the tracing isn’t as positive and people don’t want the call and so on.

“So things have changed, the guidelines have changed as matters develop and at the moment we see the number of cases is very high, so the number of contacts for every case is very high.

“But what’s encouraging is, because of the vaccination programme, those becoming very ill and having to go to hospital because of the virus is a lower percentage, and even with the number of cases being higher than ever the number of people going to hospital is low.

“There’s still a lot of work to do and there are many people in our communities still unvaccinated. The vaccine doesn’t protect everyone and some people do get very ill.

“Funding for the tracing service is in place until at least the end of March and we’ll see what happens after that.”

Adding that environmental health officers continued to have a major role, he confirmed there were plans to train more officers to work within the service.

Anyone who develops Covid-19 symptoms at any point, no matter how mild and regardless of age or vaccine status, should immediately self-isolate and arrange a Covid-19 PCR test.