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The government's coronavirus test and trace programme has launched but there were reports of crashes amid suggestions it may not be fully ready.
NHS workers in the scheme reported being unable to log into the new website, with volunteers saying they received a message on the programme saying a "critical incident" has been reported with the system.
It comes as Baroness Dido Harding, who is leading the scheme, told MPs on a conference call the system will not be fully operational until the end of June.
Following the call, Labour MP Ben Bradshaw tweeted he was "not sure where that leaves Johnson's promise of a fully operational 'world beating' system by Monday".
Anyone who has been in close contact with someone who has been infected with COVID-19 will be asked to isolate for 14 days even if they have no symptoms.
Boris Johnson has acknowledged that being told to self-isolate was a "huge imposition" but people should be aware of why the programme is needed.
And he warned that if the initial voluntary system was not respected, fines could be introduced for people who fail to comply.
However, doubt was cast on whether the test and trace system would actually be fully ready on time after an insider told Sky News that contact tracing at their level would not go live on Thursday.
"Some have not even got their basic systems up and running," they said, adding that they won't start making phone calls until next week.
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A second person doing tracing said they too had been told they would not be contacting people until Monday at the earliest and had not yet been given a login to the system.
A third person told Sky News the systems that are supposedly ready constantly crash because of the volume of users.
Sky's political correspondent Rob Powell said a Department of Health source said "some contact tracers had some issues logging in - but this is the staff side, not the public side".
He added: "They say this is the staff side of things, whereas the public side where you can go online and book a test if you are symptomatic is still running smoothly."
Speaking to Sky News, Mr Bradshaw said Baroness Harding confirmed the programme "would not be ready and would not be expected to be ready until the end of June", adding: "It doesn't really fit with what the prime minister told the House of Commons at Prime Minister's Questions last week."
Explaining the scheme, the prime minister told MPs on the liaison committee on Wednesday: "We will be asking people to stay at home.
"If they don't follow that advice, what we will be saying is we will consider what sanctions may be necessary."
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Mr Johnson suggested he would keep sanctions "on the table" for people who test positive for coronavirus but refuse to disclose their contacts.
However, he said: "This is something that we are relying on people's public-spiritedness, on their willingness to co-operate and defeat the disease."
Baroness Harding said she believed it would play a crucial role in ending restrictions on movement, saying the country would "be exchanging
national lockdown
for individual isolation".
Asked whether people would comply with the measures, Baroness Harding said it "requires all of us to do our civic duty" to avoid spreading the virus.
Anyone who tests positive will be asked for details of people they have been in close contact with and places they have visited over the last seven days - either by a contact tracer or by a text or email.
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Once they have given those details, either to the contact tracer or online via a website, those contacts will then be alerted by phone, text or email.
Depending on their level of risk, those contacts will be instructed to isolate for up to 14 days - anyone with symptoms should also isolate for seven days while they wait for a test result.
In order to prepare for the launch, the government has hired 25,000 contact tracers to get in touch with people who have the virus. Officials said all of them would be ready to report for duty on Thursday.
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Yet the scheme will not include the contact tracing app currently being tested on the Isle of Wight, which means it will not be able to identify people unknown to someone who tests positive.
Next week from Monday to Thursday, Dermot Murnaghan will be hosting After the Pandemic: Our New World - a series of special live programmes about what our world will be like once the pandemic is over.
**We'll be joined by some of the biggest names from the worlds of culture, politics, economics, science and technology. And you can take part too. If you'd like to be in our virtual audience - from your own home - and put questions to the experts, email **
