Senin, 05 Oktober 2020

University cities including Sheffield, Leeds and Oxford are on the brink of new local lockdowns - Daily Mail

Parts of the UK - including Sheffield, Leeds and Oxford - could be plunged into local lockdowns 'within DAYS' after 'missed' Test and Trace data tipped infection rates over threshold for new 'three-tier' alert system

  • University cities see rise in infection data after 'glitch' meant cases not reported 
  • Lockdown rules could be tougher than measures seen in the North and Midlands
  • Health Secretary Matt Hancock is expected to set out a new three-tier system
  • Fears some cities could be immediately placed into strictest form of lockdown 
  • 'Traffic light system' being redesigned after 'missing' cases reveal virus' spread

Parts of the UK - including a number of university cities - could be plunged into local lockdown within days after 'missed' Test and Trace data belatedly revealed soaring infection figures - putting the areas over the threshold for a new three-tier alert system.

Cities including Sheffield, Leeds and Oxford are among a dozen areas which have seen their coronavirus infection figures soar following the 'computer glitch', which meant 16,000 cases were missed off Public Health England's reporting system.

Residents in Nottingham, which has two universities, have reportedly been told to brace for lockdown measures, according to the Telegraph.

The city, which is home to Nottingham University and Nottingham Trent University, was previously not on the Government's Covid 'watch list'.

But the updated data reveals the city would have been one of the worst areas in the country last week when compared with the pre-adujsted figures. 

The Department for Health insist the new figures do not impact its watch list or alter current restriction in the area, according to the paper.

It comes as new figures today revealed that cases are rocketing in some of the North’s biggest cities.

Manchester, Liverpool, Sheffield, Newcastle and Nottingham have all seen huge jumps, in some instances to a rate of 500 cases per 100,000 people.

That triggered a fresh round of frenzied speculation about tougher local lockdowns yesterday, with the threat of further restrictions later this week. 

Manchester’s weekly rate more than doubled to 2,927 in the week to October 2 – equal to almost 530 cases per 100,000 people. 

Parts of the UK - including a number of university cities - could be plunged into local lockdown within days after 'missed' Test and Trace data belatedly revealed soaring infection figures - putting the areas over the threshold for a new three-tier alert system. Pictured: Health Secretary Matt Hancock

Parts of the UK - including a number of university cities - could be plunged into local lockdown within days after 'missed' Test and Trace data belatedly revealed soaring infection figures - putting the areas over the threshold for a new three-tier alert system. Pictured: Health Secretary Matt Hancock

Cities including Sheffield, Leeds and Oxford are among a dozen areas which have seen their coronavirus infection figures soar following the 'computer glitch', which meant 16,000 cases were missed off Public Health England's reporting system. Pictured: Executive Chair of NHS track and Trace Baroness Dido Harding

Cities including Sheffield, Leeds and Oxford are among a dozen areas which have seen their coronavirus infection figures soar following the 'computer glitch', which meant 16,000 cases were missed off Public Health England's reporting system. Pictured: Executive Chair of NHS track and Trace Baroness Dido Harding

Data from thousands of ‘missing’ cases revealed that the virus was spreading much faster than previously thought in cities like Manchester, Liverpool and Sheffield

Data from thousands of ‘missing’ cases revealed that the virus was spreading much faster than previously thought in cities like Manchester, Liverpool and Sheffield

A further 33 deaths were announced today, as the Government looks set to unveil a new system to manage lockdown restrictions nationwide

A further 33 deaths were announced today, as the Government looks set to unveil a new system to manage lockdown restrictions nationwide

As infections continue to rise, tighter measures than those already impacting on millions could be introduced in some of Britain's worst-affected areas

As infections continue to rise, tighter measures than those already impacting on millions could be introduced in some of Britain's worst-affected areas

Liverpool was not far behind, with cases per 100,000 jumping from 306 to 487 in a week.

Cases in Sheffield almost trebled from just over 100 per 100,000 to 286. In Newcastle, the rate leapt from 268 to 435.

Covid contact tracers in race to hunt down thousands of potentially infectious Britons after missed case fiasco

Covid contact tracers were last night desperately trying to hunt down tens of thousands of potentially infectious Britons after the full impact of the IT blunder was laid bare.

Ministers admitted yesterday that officials had managed to get in touch with only half of the 16,000 left off the Government’s daily tally of confirmed virus cases last week.

Estimates have suggested these people could have as many as 50,000 potentially infectious contacts needing to be traced and told to isolate.

Ministers were yesterday unable to say how many of those had actually been contacted

It means tens of thousands of people could be ‘blissfully unaware’ they are spreading coronavirus.

Yesterday, a furious blame game erupted over the IT ‘glitch’ that meant 15,841 positive test results were left off last week’s official daily figures for confirmed Covid cases.

Public Health England (PHE) admitted it was to blame for the error itself, which was caused – astonishingly – by an Excel spreadsheet reaching its maximum data size.

However, questions were also being asked of the Department of Health, the NHS test-and-trace system and its chief, Dido Harding.

The blunder has meant that recorded levels of the virus have suddenly rocketed in parts of the country, with these ‘missing’ cases suddenly added to local tallies. 

The row escalated as a further 12,594 confirmed cases of coronavirus were reported today, bringing the total number of cases in the UK to 515,571, while another 19 people lost their lives.

The fiasco – the latest to beset the Government’s corona response – has also damaged confidence in the already beleaguered test-and-trace scheme.

Forced to address the issue in the Commons yesterday, Matt Hancock blamed an outdated PHE computer system for the mishap and said the blunder should never have happened.

The Health Secretary admitted the ‘problem’ had been identified as far back as July and was in the process of being replaced.

He told MPs: ‘This incident should never have happened but the team has acted swiftly to minimise its impact, and now it is critical that we work together to put this right and make sure it never happens again.’

Efforts to catch up with contact tracing began first thing on Saturday, with an extra 6,500 hours of personnel time used, MPs were told.

But by yesterday morning, only 51 per cent of cases had been contacted for a second time so their contacts could be located.

Mr Hancock insisted the data had not ‘substantially changed’ the chief medical officer’s analysis of how coronavirus was spreading.

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Many of the biggest rises are in cities with large student populations.

Mr Hancock said outbreaks on campuses would not necessarily lead to tougher restrictions for the wider community if they could be contained.  

Meanwhile, Covid contact tracers were last night desperately trying to hunt down tens of thousands of potentially infectious Britons after the full impact of the IT blunder was laid bare.

Ministers admitted yesterday that officials had managed to get in touch with only half of the 16,000 left off the Government’s daily tally of confirmed virus cases last week.

Estimates have suggested these people could have as many as 50,000 potentially infectious contacts needing to be traced and told to isolate.

Ministers were yesterday unable to say how many of those had actually been contacted

It means tens of thousands of people could be ‘blissfully unaware’ they are spreading coronavirus.

Yesterday, a furious blame game erupted over the IT ‘glitch’ that meant 15,841 positive test results were left off last week’s official daily figures for confirmed Covid cases.

Public Health England (PHE) admitted it was to blame for the error itself, which was caused – astonishingly – by an Excel spreadsheet reaching its maximum data size.

However, questions were also being asked of the Department of Health, the NHS test-and-trace system and its chief, Dido Harding.

The blunder has meant that recorded levels of the virus have suddenly rocketed in parts of the country, with these ‘missing’ cases suddenly added to local tallies. 

The row escalated as a further 12,594 confirmed cases of coronavirus were reported today, bringing the total number of cases in the UK to 515,571, while another 19 people lost their lives.

The fiasco – the latest to beset the Government’s corona response – has also damaged confidence in the already beleaguered test-and-trace scheme.

Forced to address the issue in the Commons yesterday, Matt Hancock blamed an outdated PHE computer system for the mishap and said the blunder should never have happened.

The Health Secretary admitted the ‘problem’ had been identified as far back as July and was in the process of being replaced.

He told MPs: ‘This incident should never have happened but the team has acted swiftly to minimise its impact, and now it is critical that we work together to put this right and make sure it never happens again.’

Efforts to catch up with contact tracing began first thing on Saturday, with an extra 6,500 hours of personnel time used, MPs were told.

But by yesterday morning, only 51 per cent of cases had been contacted for a second time so their contacts could be located.

Mr Hancock insisted the data had not ‘substantially changed’ the chief medical officer’s analysis of how coronavirus was spreading.

Professor Chris Whitty had assessed the updated data and concluded no local lockdowns would need to be reassessed, he added.

But Labour’s shadow health secretary Jon Ashworth said the situation was ‘beyond shambolic’ and was ‘putting lives at risk’.

Mr Ashworth said: ‘As many as 48,000 contacts not traced and not isolating.

‘Thousands of people blissfully unaware they’ve been exposed to Covid potentially spreading this deadly virus at a time when hospital admissions are increasing and we’re in the second wave.’

Efforts to catch up with contact tracing began first thing on Saturday, with an extra 6,500 hours of personnel time used, MPs were told

Efforts to catch up with contact tracing began first thing on Saturday, with an extra 6,500 hours of personnel time used, MPs were told

Experts warned it may take weeks to track down those potentially carrying the virus, while the fallout could be felt for months to come.

Rowland Kao, an expert in infectious disease dynamics at Edinburgh University, said technical errors on such systems were ‘always a risk’ and to expect more in future.

He said: ‘While it appears they are now being contacted as a matter of priority, this additional strain on a system already stretched to its limit implies that further delays are likely to occur for other cases where contact tracing is needed.’

Parts of England could face new lockdown measures within days under new 'Covid alert' system - but ministers ditch traffic light plans 

Parts of England could face draconian new lockdown measures within days under plans for a local ‘Covid alert’ system.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock is expected to unveil details of the three-tier set-up this week in an attempt to make the existing patchwork of restrictions easier to understand.

Government sources said the top tier would include tougher restrictions than those currently applied to millions of people living across the North and Midlands.

A planned ‘traffic light’ system of measures will be redesigned after data from thousands of ‘missing’ cases revealed that the virus was spreading much faster than previously thought in cities like Manchester, Liverpool and Sheffield. Ministers will meet in the coming days to thrash out exactly how far to go.

But options include the closure of pubs, restaurants and cinemas, a ban on social mixing outside household groups, and restrictions on overnight stays. Sources refused to rule out the possibility that some towns and cities could be placed immediately into the top tier, despite the fact that death rates remain low.

Those areas placed in the higher levels will get extra cash to help them cope.

Sources said the Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty told ministers there were signs that the second wave of the pandemic was more localised than the first.

It raised the possibility that a national lockdown could be avoided if tough restrictions are imposed in those areas where cases are surging.

New figures yesterday revealed that cases are rocketing in some of the North’s biggest cities. Manchester’s weekly rate more than doubled to 2,927 in the week to October 2 – equal to almost 530 cases per 100,000 people.

Liverpool was not far behind, with cases per 100,000 jumping from 306 to 487 in a week. Cases in Sheffield almost trebled from just over 100 per 100,000 to 286. In Newcastle, the rate leapt from 268 to 435.

Many of the biggest rises are in cities with large student populations. Mr Hancock said outbreaks on campuses would not necessarily lead to tougher restrictions for the wider community if they could be contained.

But last night there was growing concern in government that the spread of the virus in parts of the North is so rapid that further restrictions are inevitable.

In a further indication of the growing North-South divide, Germany is now advising travellers they must isolate when they return home if they have visited lockdown areas in northern England.

Ministers had planned a new ‘traffic light’ system to make local lockdowns easier to understand.

But the approach has been quietly ditched because of worries it could lead to complacency.

‘The fear was that if people were told they were living in a green-rated area they would take it as a sign that they could go on as normal,’ a source said.

In the Commons yesterday, Mr Hancock said: ‘It is critical that our rules are clear at a local level so the public can be certain what they need to do.’

Under the three-tier system, all existing local lockdown areas will be placed on alert level two, with similar restrictions on indoor mixing.

The rest of the country will be placed on level one, with Britons asked to follow existing social distancing guidelines and laws. 

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PHE said every single person who was tested initially had received their test result as normal, with all those testing positive told to self-isolate.

However, as well as underestimating the scale of the outbreak in the UK, critically the details were not passed to contact tracers, meaning people exposed to the virus were not tracked down. It is not clear what the repercussions of this failure will be, but they are feared to be very serious.

PHE officials said the outstanding cases, first acknowledged on Saturday, were transferred to NHS Test and Trace 'immediately' after the issue was resolved and thanked contact tracers for their 'additional efforts' over the weekend to clear the backlog.  

Meanwhile, today there was growing concern in government that the spread of the virus in parts of the North is so rapid that further restrictions are inevitable.

In a further indication of the growing North-South divide, Germany is now advising travellers they must isolate when they return home if they have visited lockdown areas in northern England. 

Meanwhile, parts of England could face draconian new lockdown measures within days under plans for a local ‘Covid alert’ system.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock is expected to unveil details of the three-tier set-up this week in an attempt to make the existing patchwork of restrictions easier to understand.

Government sources said the top tier would include tougher restrictions than those currently applied to millions of people living across the North and Midlands.

A planned ‘traffic light’ system of measures will be redesigned. 

Ministers had planned the new ‘traffic light’ system to make local lockdowns easier to understand.

But the approach has been quietly ditched because of worries it could lead to complacency.

‘The fear was that if people were told they were living in a green-rated area they would take it as a sign that they could go on as normal,’ a source said.

In the Commons yesterday, Mr Hancock said: ‘It is critical that our rules are clear at a local level so the public can be certain what they need to do.’

Ministers will meet in the coming days to thrash out exactly how far to go.

But options include the closure of pubs, restaurants and cinemas, a ban on social mixing outside household groups, and restrictions on overnight stays.

Sources refused to rule out the possibility that some towns and cities could be placed immediately into the top tier, despite the fact that death rates remain low.

Those areas placed in the higher levels will get extra cash to help them cope.

Under the three-tier system, all existing local lockdown areas will be placed on alert level two, with similar restrictions on indoor mixing.

The rest of the country will be placed on level one, with Britons asked to follow existing social distancing guidelines and laws – such as the rule of six, the 10pm pub curfew and wearing masks in enclosed spaces.

A small number of towns and cities could be placed immediately into tier three, which will require much tougher restrictions.

MPs across the North have complained the current system of local lockdowns is confusing and sometimes arbitrary. They are also demanding an exit strategy.

Boris Johnson acknowledged yesterday it was still too early to tell if the plethora of recent restrictions was taking effect.

He said: ‘All the stuff that has come in, we’ll see whether that starts to work in driving down the virus.'

Public Health England's most recently weekly update on Friday — which is based on slightly older data than the PA analysis — shows only nine local authorities of 149 in England saw their infection rates drop last week. But PHE's computer error means infection rates may be higher in reality.

Camden, in London, saw cases fall the most in the week to October 2. Its infection rate — how many cases there are per week for every 100,000 people — dropped by 70 per cent from 63 in every 100,000 people to 18.7.

It now has the lowest infection rate of all 32 London boroughs, according to PHE's surveillance report which takes into account positive tests recorded between September 21 and 27.

The 16,0000 cases not counted by PHE occurred between September 25 and October 2.

Public Health England's most recently weekly update on Friday shows only nine local authorities of 149 in England saw their infection rates drop last week. But PHE's computer error means infection rates may be higher in reality

Public Health England's most recently weekly update on Friday shows only nine local authorities of 149 in England saw their infection rates drop last week. But PHE's computer error means infection rates may be higher in reality

Blackburn with Darwen, considered one of England's coronavirus hotspots throughout the second wave of the pandemic, saw its infection rate drop by 20 per cent in a week, and other 'lockdown' areas including Blackpool, Bolton, Leicester and South Tyneside have seen infections slow down.

The majority of places under tougher Covid-19 restrictions across the North and Midlands, banned from seeing friends and family in either their home or pub, have not seen cases reduce for several weeks, meaning they are unlikely to be released from the grips of tougher measures any time soon.

Leicester, the first place in England to be subjected to a 'local lockdown' at the end of June, has never been able to return to normality like the rest of England despite its infection rate almost halving from 140 to 89 now.

It even hit a low of 25 in early September.

It comes after calls for ministers to publish their criteria for deciding when an area has reached the threshold for a lockdown and when it will be able to leave, with Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham saying lockdowns are like 'Hotel California' because, like The Eagles song, 'once you're in, you can never leave'.

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2020-10-05 20:58:17Z
CAIiEFl9ztYDX9ZF64m5e8KmnC4qGQgEKhAIACoHCAowzuOICzCZ4ocDMPvTpwY

ANALYSIS: Why did the contact UK tracing system fail? - Sky News

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  1. ANALYSIS: Why did the contact UK tracing system fail?  Sky News
  2. Surge in Covid cases as Public Health England fails to report thousands of infections - BBC News  BBC News
  3. How an Excel spreadsheet error caused a huge spike in Covid cases for England | ITV News  ITV News
  4. Excel: Why using Microsoft's tool caused Covid-19 results to be lost  BBC News
  5. Thousands of coronavirus tests missing in space – is this what the prime minister meant by a moonshot?  The Independent
  6. View Full coverage on Google News

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2020-10-05 19:33:48Z
52781101992260

Excel: Why using Microsoft's tool caused Covid-19 results to be lost - BBC News

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2020-10-05 18:06:00Z
52781101992260

Coronavirus: Almost 8,000 missed COVID-19 cases still haven't had their contacts traced - Sky News

Almost half of the nearly 16,000 people with coronavirus missed by the Test and Trace system still have not had their contacts traced, the health secretary has admitted.

An "IT failure" within Public Health England - a problem with an Excel spreadsheet reaching its maximum size - has been blamed by ministers for a delay in the reporting of 15,841 COVID-19 cases in England.

Downing Street revealed extra contact tracers had now been drafted in to help track down the contacts of people whose positive tests went unreported between 25 September to 2 October.

Live coverage of the latest coronavirus news and updates

Matt Hancock said the situation was "ongoing" but that the government's assessment of the pandemic had "not substantially changed".

The health secretary also told the Commons that just over half - 51% - of the missing cases have been contacted for a second time over the weekend to have their contacts traced, meaning 49% - equal to some 7,762 people - have not.

The government later clarified that Mr Hancock's "ongoing" comment did not mean some positive cases are still not being counted but that work is continuing to contact those missed.

Meanwhile, a Whitehall investigation has been launched to discover why the missed cases were not identified sooner.

But the prime minister was said to still have full confidence in Baroness Harding, the head of the NHS Test and Trace programme.

He was quizzed about the glitch on Monday, with Labour having accused the government of overseeing a "shambolic" system.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak will speak to Kay Burley live just after 7am tomorrow morning

Mr Johnson did not give an answer when asked how many people weren't traced, but who should have been, by NHS Test and Trace due to the delay in reporting the infections.

"I can't give you those figures," he said.

"What I can say is all those people are obviously being contacted and the key thing is that everybody - whether in this group or generally - should self-isolate.

"That's the way to make it work."

The prime minister said a successful use of the NHS Test and Trace scheme should create a "fire break" around an incidence of infection and "helps us fight the virus".

Breakdown of missing cases

Missing cases Original figure Actual total
25 September 957 6,874 7,831
26 September 744 6,042 6,786
27 September 757 5,693 6,450
28 September 0 4,044 4,044
29 September 1,415 7,143 8,558
30 September 3,049 7,108 10,157
01 October 4,133 6,914 11,047
02 October 4,786 6,968 11,754

Referring to the technology error, Mr Johnson claimed that "some of the data got truncated" and "was lost".

The master Excel spreadsheet reached its maximum capacity so could not keep adding further cases.

Officials said that "rapid mitigation" measures have been put in place to make sure it does not happen again.

Mr Johnson added: "What they have done now is not only contacted all the people who were identified as having the disease - that was done in the first place - but they are now working through all the contacts as well."

After the prime minister spoke to reporters on a visit to a sustainable power firm in London, Downing Street clarified that those self-isolating at the request of the NHS Test and Trace scheme would receive a one-off payment of £500, rather than the £500 per week that Mr Johnson had said during the visit.

Following the addition of the new COVID-19 cases to England's figures, the weekly rate of infections has soared in dozens of areas.

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Therese Coffey on 16,000 missed COVID cases

Earlier on Monday, Work and Pensions Secretary Therese Coffey was asked whether others might have been infected with COVID-19 due to the NHS Test and Trace scheme not being aware of the nearly 16,000 cases

"There may well be," she told Sky News.

"I've been made aware that probably the majority of that [contact-tracing] has happened in the latest element of the week, in the last couple of days.

"So it's important that we act quickly, and PHE is acting quickly, to see whether or not people are required to self-isolate.

"Because I do recognise that not quite everybody going through the regime will be identified by the test and trace regime to undertake that further self-isolation."

:: Subscribe to Sophy Ridge on Sunday on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Spreaker

Labour MP Bridget Phillipson, the shadow chief secretary to the Treasury, accused ministers of overseeing a "shambolic" system.

"Test, trace and isolate just isn't working," she told Sky News.

Fellow Labour frontbencher Lucy Powell, the Manchester Central MP and a shadow business minister, said it was "very concerning" that infection rates had been revised upwards in Greater Manchester following the discovery of the computer glitch.

"Local understanding of what lies behind this increase is critical before we see ever more stringent restrictions imposed on us," she posted on Twitter.

"We've already been living under local restrictions longer (over 2 months) than most places."

After speaking with Health Secretary Matt Hancock on Monday, London mayor Sadiq Khan claimed the test and trace system was "letting London and the country down".

"Today I spoke to the health secretary, alongside mayors from across the country, and reminded him that a fully functioning test, trace and isolate system is the only way we will get a grip on this virus, prevent a further lockdown and be able to protect our economy," he said.

Public Health England said on Sunday the people involved all received their test results and those who tested positive were advised to self-isolate.

Joint medical director Dr Susan Hopkins told Sky News: "There's no delay in people receiving their test results.

"The delays are in reporting to the dashboard and to the public and there's been a delay in contact tracing initiation.

"Public Health England apologise that this occurred and have put in place steps to prevent this happening again."

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2020-10-05 17:15:17Z
52781101992260

Coronavirus: Almost 8,000 missed COVID-19 cases still haven't had their contacts traced - Sky News

Almost half of the nearly 16,000 people with coronavirus missed by the Test and Trace system still have not had their contacts traced, the health secretary has admitted.

An "IT failure" within Public Health England - a problem with an Excel spreadsheet reaching its maximum size - has been blamed by ministers for a delay in the reporting of 15,841 COVID-19 cases in England.

Downing Street revealed extra contact tracers had now been drafted in to help track down the contacts of people whose positive tests went unreported between 25 September to 2 October.

Live coverage of the latest coronavirus news and updates

Matt Hancock said the situation was "ongoing" but that the government's assessment of the pandemic had "not substantially changed".

The health secretary also told the Commons that just over half - 51% - of the missing cases have been contacted for a second time over the weekend to have their contacts traced, meaning 49% - equal to some 7,762 people - have not.

The government later clarified that Mr Hancock's "ongoing" comment did not mean some positive cases are still not being counted but that work is continuing to contact those missed.

Meanwhile, a Whitehall investigation has been launched to discover why the missed cases were not identified sooner.

But the prime minister was said to still have full confidence in Baroness Harding, the head of the NHS Test and Trace programme.

He was quizzed about the glitch on Monday, with Labour having accused the government of overseeing a "shambolic" system.

Mr Johnson did not give an answer when asked how many people weren't traced, but who should have been, by NHS Test and Trace due to the delay in reporting the infections.

"I can't give you those figures," he said.

"What I can say is all those people are obviously being contacted and the key thing is that everybody - whether in this group or generally - should self-isolate.

"That's the way to make it work."

The prime minister said a successful use of the NHS Test and Trace scheme should create a "fire break" around an incidence of infection and "helps us fight the virus".

Breakdown of missing cases

Missing cases Original figure Actual total
25 September 957 6,874 7,831
26 September 744 6,042 6,786
27 September 757 5,693 6,450
28 September 0 4,044 4,044
29 September 1,415 7,143 8,558
30 September 3,049 7,108 10,157
01 October 4,133 6,914 11,047
02 October 4,786 6,968 11,754

Referring to the technology error, Mr Johnson claimed that "some of the data got truncated" and "was lost".

The master Excel spreadsheet reached its maximum capacity so could not keep adding further cases.

Officials said that "rapid mitigation" measures have been put in place to make sure it does not happen again.

Mr Johnson added: "What they have done now is not only contacted all the people who were identified as having the disease - that was done in the first place - but they are now working through all the contacts as well."

After the prime minister spoke to reporters on a visit to a sustainable power firm in London, Downing Street clarified that those self-isolating at the request of the NHS Test and Trace scheme would receive a one-off payment of £500, rather than the £500 per week that Mr Johnson had said during the visit.

Following the addition of the new COVID-19 cases to England's figures, the weekly rate of infections has soared in dozens of areas.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Therese Coffey on 16,000 missed COVID cases

Earlier on Monday, Work and Pensions Secretary Therese Coffey was asked whether others might have been infected with COVID-19 due to the NHS Test and Trace scheme not being aware of the nearly 16,000 cases

"There may well be," she told Sky News.

"I've been made aware that probably the majority of that [contact-tracing] has happened in the latest element of the week, in the last couple of days.

"So it's important that we act quickly, and PHE is acting quickly, to see whether or not people are required to self-isolate.

"Because I do recognise that not quite everybody going through the regime will be identified by the test and trace regime to undertake that further self-isolation."

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Labour MP Bridget Phillipson, the shadow chief secretary to the Treasury, accused ministers of overseeing a "shambolic" system.

"Test, trace and isolate just isn't working," she told Sky News.

Fellow Labour frontbencher Lucy Powell, the Manchester Central MP and a shadow business minister, said it was "very concerning" that infection rates had been revised upwards in Greater Manchester following the discovery of the computer glitch.

"Local understanding of what lies behind this increase is critical before we see ever more stringent restrictions imposed on us," she posted on Twitter.

"We've already been living under local restrictions longer (over 2 months) than most places."

After speaking with Health Secretary Matt Hancock on Monday, London mayor Sadiq Khan claimed the test and trace system was "letting London and the country down".

"Today I spoke to the health secretary, alongside mayors from across the country, and reminded him that a fully functioning test, trace and isolate system is the only way we will get a grip on this virus, prevent a further lockdown and be able to protect our economy," he said.

Public Health England said on Sunday the people involved all received their test results and those who tested positive were advised to self-isolate.

Joint medical director Dr Susan Hopkins told Sky News: "There's no delay in people receiving their test results.

"The delays are in reporting to the dashboard and to the public and there's been a delay in contact tracing initiation.

"Public Health England apologise that this occurred and have put in place steps to prevent this happening again."

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2020-10-05 17:15:00Z
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Covid: Test error 'should never have happened' - Hancock - BBC News

The health secretary has said a glitch that saw nearly 16,000 Covid-19 cases go unreported in England "has not substantially changed" the government's assessment of the epidemic.

He said a technical issue as results were processed "should never have happened" and is being investigated.

Public Health England said 15,841 cases between 25 September and 2 October were left out of the UK daily case figures.

Those who tested positive were informed - but their close contacts were not.

Experts advise that ideally contacts should be tracked down within 48 hours.

On Monday afternoon, the government's coronavirus dashboard said that there had been a further 12,594 lab-confirmed cases of coronavirus in the UK, bringing the total number of cases in the UK to 515,571.

Another 19 people were reported to have died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19.

The issue has been fixed, PHE said, with outstanding cases passed on to tracers by 01:00 BST on Saturday.

Mr Hancock told MPs that extra contact tracers were being used and that 51% of those whose positive results were caught up in the glitch have been contacted a second time to trace their contacts.

He said the error had "not substantially changed" the government's assessment of the spread of the virus and had "not impacted the basis on which decisions about local action were taken last week".

He said care homes, schools and hospitals had not been directly affected because outbreak control in these settings "does not primarily rely on this particular PHE system".

"This incident should never have happened. But the team have acted swiftly to minimise its impact," he added.

Labour's shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth said that the missing results were "putting lives at risk".

He said the unreported cases meant as many as 48,000 contacts had not been traced and not been isolating, with "thousands blissfully unaware they've been exposed to Covid, potentially spreading this deadly virus".

Media playback is unsupported on your device

PHE's interim chief executive Michael Brodie said the "technical issue" - which concerned the process that transfers Covid-19 positive lab results into reporting dashboards - was identified overnight on 2 October.

It was caused by some Microsoft Excel data files exceeding the maximum size and issues in transfer of data between NHS Test and Trace and PHE.

The technical issue meant the daily case totals reported on the government's coronavirus dashboard over the past week have been lower than the true number.

BBC health editor Hugh Pym said daily figures for the end of the week were "actually nearer 11,000", rather than the roughly 7,000 reported.

BBC analysis found the number of cases reported for the week to 1 October increased by 92.6% in the North West after taking in the missing tests - with similar rises reflected across England.

The increase, of 8,348 cases, is mostly down to the missing tests, but the figures also included some results which came back after 2 October.

The BBC has confirmed the missing Covid-19 test data was caused by the ill-thought-out use of Microsoft's Excel software. Furthermore, Public Health England (PHE) was to blame, rather than a third-party contractor.

The issue was caused by the way the agency brought together logs produced by the commercial firms paid to carry out swab tests for the virus.

They filed their results in the form of text-based lists, without issue.

PHE had set up an automatic process to pull this data together into Excel templates so that it could then be uploaded to a central system and made available to the NHS Test and Trace team as well as other government computer dashboards.

The problem is that the PHE developers picked an old file format to do this - known as XLS.

As a consequence, each template could handle only about 65,000 rows of data rather than the one million-plus rows that Excel is actually capable of.

And since each test result created several rows of data, in practice it meant that each template was limited to about 1,400 cases. When that total was reached, further cases were simply left off.

Until last week, there were not enough test results being generated by private labs for this to have been a problem - PHE is confident that test results were not previously missed because of this issue.

And in its defence, the agency would note that it caught most of the cases within a day or two of the records slipping through its net.

To handle the problem, PHE is now breaking down the data into smaller batches to create a larger number of Excel templates in order to make sure none hit their cap.

But insiders acknowledge that their current clunky system needs to be replaced by something more advanced that does not involve Excel.

PHE said NHS Test and Trace has made sure there are enough contact tracers working, and is working with local teams to ensure they also have sufficient resources to be urgently able to contact all cases.

The number of call attempts is being increased from 10 to 15 over 96 hours.

There have been clear problems with the government's test and trace data, but they do not change our view of the UK's trajectory.

Cases surged at the beginning of September, they may still be climbing, but not as quickly as anticipated just a few weeks ago.

This perspective comes from three key sets of data - the Office for National Statistics, the React study by Imperial College London and the Covid symptom tracker app.

None are blighted by either the current issues with the test and trace data or by people struggling to access a test.

The real fallout of the weekend's statistical chaos is not the numbers, but the people who should have been contact-traced, told to quarantine and instead may have been unwittingly passing on the virus.

People connected by lines

Getty Images

Under-reported figures

From 25 Sept to 2 Oct

  • 50,786 Cases initially reported by PHE

  • 15,841 Unreported cases, missed due to IT error

  • 8 days of incomplete data

  • 1,980cases per day, on average, were missed in that time

  • 48 hoursIdeal time limit for tracing contacts after positive test

Source: PHE and gov.uk

Have you recently tested positive? Have you been contacted by test and trace? Share your experiences by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.

Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also get in touch in the following ways:

If you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question or comment or you can email us at HaveYourSay@bbc.co.uk. Please include your name, age and location with any submission.

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2020-10-05 17:01:38Z
52781101992260

Covid: Investigation launched into coronavirus test error - BBC News

An investigation is under way after nearly 16,000 coronavirus cases went unreported in England, delaying contact tracing efforts.

Downing Street said there was a "technical issue" when positive test results were transferred from labs to central dashboards.

Public Health England said 15,841 cases between 25 September and 2 October were left out of the UK daily case figures.

Those who tested positive were informed - but their close contacts were not.

Experts advise that ideally contacts should be tracked down within 48 hours.

The issue has been fixed, PHE said, with outstanding cases passed on to tracers by 01:00 BST on Saturday.

On Monday afternoon, the government's coronavirus dashboard said that there had been a further 12,594 lab-confirmed cases of coronavirus in the UK, bringing the total number of cases in the UK to 515,571.

Another 19 people were reported to have died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock told MPs the error "has not substantially changed" the government's assessment of Covid-19 and its impact, and "has not impacted the basis on which decisions about local action were taken last week".

He said care homes, schools and hospitals have not been directly affected because outbreak control in these settings "does not primarily rely on this particular PHE system".

However, he described it as a "serious issue" that is being "investigated fully".

"This incident should never have happened. But the team have acted swiftly to minimise its impact," he said.

The prime minister's spokesman said the IT glitch was "quickly resolved" and NHS Test and Trace and PHE were "urgently contacting" all cases, with extra contact tracers being used.

However, he said an investigation has been launched into why the problems were not picked up sooner.

The technical issue meant the daily case totals reported on the government's coronavirus dashboard over the past week have been lower than the true number.

BBC health editor Hugh Pym said daily figures for the end of the week were "actually nearer 11,000", rather than the roughly 7,000 reported.

Labour described the glitch as "shambolic".

It was caused by some data files exceeding the maximum size, and issues in transfer of data between NHS Test and Trace and PHE.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the cases data had been "truncated" and "lost", but added all people who had tested positive had been contacted, with tracers were "now working through all the contacts".

Media playback is unsupported on your device

BBC analysis found the number of cases reported for the week to 1 October increased by 92.6% in the North West after taking in the missing tests - with similar rises reflected across England.

The increase, of 8,348 cases, is mostly down to the missing tests, but the figures also included some results which came back after 2 October.

The BBC has confirmed the missing Covid-19 test data was caused by the ill-thought-out use of Microsoft's Excel software. Furthermore, Public Health England (PHE) was to blame, rather than a third-party contractor.

The issue was caused by the way the agency brought together logs produced by the commercial firms paid to carry out swab tests for the virus.

They filed their results in the form of text-based lists, without issue.

PHE had set up an automatic process to pull this data together into Excel templates so that it could then be uploaded to a central system and made available to the NHS Test and Trace team as well as other government computer dashboards.

The problem is that the PHE developers picked an old file format to do this - known as XLS.

As a consequence, each template could handle only about 65,000 rows of data rather than the one million-plus rows that Excel is actually capable of.

And since each test result created several rows of data, in practice it meant that each template was limited to about 1,400 cases. When that total was reached, further cases were simply left off.

Until last week, there were not enough test results being generated by private labs for this to have been a problem - PHE is confident that test results were not previously missed because of this issue.

And in its defence, the agency would note that it caught most of the cases within a day or two of the records slipping through its net.

To handle the problem, PHE is now breaking down the data into smaller batches to create a larger number of Excel templates in order to make sure none hit their cap.

But insiders acknowledge that their current clunky system needs to be replaced by something more advanced that does not involve Excel.

Public Health England's interim chief executive Michael Brodie said a "technical issue" was identified overnight on Friday, 2 October in the process that transfers Covid-19 positive lab results into reporting dashboards.

"We fully understand the concern this may cause and further robust measures have been put in place as a result," he said.

PHE said NHS Test and Trace has made sure there are enough contact tracers working, and is working with local teams to ensure they also have sufficient resources to be urgently able to contact all cases.

The number of call attempts is being increased from 10 to 15 over 96 hours.

There have been clear problems with the government's Test and Trace data, but they do not change our view of the UK's trajectory.

Cases surged at the beginning of September, they may still be climbing, but not as quickly as anticipated just a few weeks ago.

This perspective comes from three key sets of data - the Office for National Statistics, the React study by Imperial College London and the Covid symptom tracker app.

None are blighted by either the current issues with the Test and Trace data or by people struggling to access a test.

The real fallout of the weekend's statistical chaos is not the numbers, but the people who should have been contact-traced, told to quarantine and instead may have been unwittingly passing on the virus.

Labour's shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth said: "This is shambolic and people across the country will be understandably alarmed."

He called for Health Secretary Matt Hancock to explain "what on earth has happened" and what he plans to do to fix test and trace.

Bridget Phillipson, shadow chief secretary to the treasury, told BBC Breakfast she wanted to know whether it had had "any impact on government decision making around local restrictions".

PHE data shows Manchester now has the highest rate of infection in England, at 495.6 cases per 100,000 people in the week to 1 October, from 223.2 the week before.

Liverpool has the second highest rate, up to 456.4 from 287.1 per 100,000. Knowsley in Merseyside, Newcastle, Nottingham, Leeds and Sheffield have also seen sharp rises.

People connected by lines

Getty Images

Under-reported figures

From 25 Sept to 2 Oct

  • 50,786 Cases initially reported by PHE

  • 15,841 Unreported cases, missed due to IT error

  • 8 days of incomplete data

  • 1,980cases per day, on average, were missed in that time

  • 48 hoursIdeal time limit for tracing contacts after positive test

Source: PHE and gov.uk

Have you recently tested positive? Have you been contacted by test and trace? Share your experiences by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.

Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also get in touch in the following ways:

If you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question or comment or you can email us at HaveYourSay@bbc.co.uk. Please include your name, age and location with any submission.

Let's block ads! (Why?)


https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiJmh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmJiYy5jby51ay9uZXdzL3VrLTU0NDIyNTA10gEqaHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuYmJjLmNvLnVrL25ld3MvYW1wL3VrLTU0NDIyNTA1?oc=5

2020-10-05 15:21:55Z
52781101992260