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SWAMPED contact tracers are being told to stop chasing Covid-positive Scots if two calls ring out in four hours.

Backlogs caused by the recent virus spike, coupled with staff shortages, are pushing Scotland’s Test and Protect system to breaking point, according to one insider.

The whistleblower says the system is overwhelmed by surging infection rates, adding: “Cases are closed after two attempts.”

They say staff are now only able to do the “bare minimum” by ringing people with the bug twice before giving up and moving on.

And they told how — with new cases topping 7,000 last Sunday — flowcharts and scripts used by call handlers had been changed to get through jobs faster.

The insider claimed most positive cases in their late teens or early 20s who were successfully reached had been in a nightclub since venues reopened on August 9.

And they revealed “burnt out” workers are increasingly frustrated with the Scottish Government’s handling of the crisis.

Critics have demanded an overhaul of the contact tracing system amid claims it is “running on fumes”.