Thousands of contact tracers are making their first phone calls to track down people who will be told to self-isolate under new test and trace schemes being launched in England and Scotland.

Tracers will text, email or call people who test positive with coronavirus and ask who they have had contact with.

Any of those contacts deemed at risk of infection will be told to isolate for 14 days, even if they are not sick.

Those who have already had the virus will also be asked to self-isolate.

However, shortly after launching, some tracers said they were struggling to access the system.

In a statement, the Department of Health insisted it had not crashed, adding: "Some staff did initially encounter issues logging on to their systems and these are rapidly being resolved."

Chris Hopson, chief executive of NHS Providers, said hospital trust leaders were questioning the risk being run by easing the lockdown without having local systems in place.

He also said it was "never going to be the case" that the UK would have a "world-class" test and trace system in place by June - in reference to a previous pledge made by Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

Mr Hopson said while work was progressing "at pace", the UK was "weeks behind where we really ought to be".

Anyone deemed at risk of infection will be told to stay at home for 14 days.

You will be asked to self-isolate, even if you do not have symptoms, to stop you from unknowingly spreading the virus.

This means that you should not leave your home for any reason. If you need food or medicine, you should order it online or by phone, or ask friends and family to drop it off on your doorstep.

The tracers can track down the contacts of 10,000 people every day, the government says.

I seriously doubt it. Epidemiologists are now saying that Covid-19 has become endemic, even if a vaccine is developed. In other words it is here to stay, just like measles, chicken pox and the common cold. They say that as the virus burns through the worlds population, some people will eventually develop a natural immunity. This however will take decades. A vaccine, will assist the human body in fighting off the virus, but not a total immunity.

I'd like an antibody test, I had really nasty virus in December, one daughter had the same, other daughter had even worse virus in January went to hospital with it.

Phoning thingy won't work, who's going to say their family member desperate to stay in work, struggling to cope, after months was chatting to them for 15 minutes?

From Monday in England, you will be able to meet in groups of up to six people from different households outside - either in parks or now also in private gardens - as long as you remain 2m (6ft) apart. For example, you could have a barbecue in someone's back garden.

From Friday in Scotland, two separate households - up to a maximum of eight people - can meet outdoors, in a park or private garden. Social distancing rules still apply.

It means, for example, you could have a picnic in the park, or play a non-contact sport like tennis, golf or basketball, observing social distancing.

While people from different households are still not allowed to meet indoors, you can go through a house to access a garden. But you can't extend your visit to stay overnight.

However, if you needed to do something like use the toilet during a visit, you would need to wipe down and clean everything afterwards, to lower the risk of transmission of the virus.

Meanwhile, anyone who is shielding and has been asked to stay at home should continue to do so.

In Wales, the BBC understands that people from two different households will be able to meet each other outdoors from Monday.

Groups of four to six people who do not share a household can meet outdoors in Northern Ireland, although outdoor weddings with 10 people present may be allowed from 8 June.

Is there any point in having the app unless you think you have symptoms?

On May 27, the UK revealed details of its manual track and trace system. For now, this is without a contact-tracing app. The UK's Test and Trace chief, Dido Harding, refused to put a timeline on when the app would be launched.