[ad_1]
Contact trackers missed nearly 50,000 people potentially infected with coronavirus due to a spreadsheet error.
The government has admitted that up to 16,000 people who tested positive were not reported to its “worldwide” system until a week later.
Experts believe that each of those people will have come into close contact with an average of three people who should have been told to isolate themselves.
It may now be too late to locate some 48,000 people exposed to the virus who may have already contracted it and potentially infected others.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock admitted to MPs that only 51% of the 15,841 people whose results deviated in the past week had been contacted by the Test and Trace service at 9 a.m. yesterday.
(Image: PA)
That means 49% had not yet told authorities who they might have exposed to the coronavirus, until 10 days after they first tested positive.
The PHE has admitted that the 15,841 cases were left out of the figures reported daily from September 25 to October 2.
It meant that weekly infection rates became much higher in several areas, with Manchester and Liverpool hit the hardest.
It occurred when 12,594 new cases were reported, with 19 deaths.
Damn Mr. Hancock, shadow health secretary
Jon Ashworth said: “Thousands blissfully unaware that they have been exposed, potentially spreading this deadly virus at a time when we are in the second wave.
“This is not just a disaster. It is much worse. You are putting lives at risk, and you should apologize.”
(Image: Adam Gerrard / Daily Mirror)
Hancock admitted that ministers were aware of the problems with Public Health England’s IT system in July.
It is understood that the problem was caused by officials using an outdated Excel spreadsheet format that was not capable of displaying all lines of data.
The experts were amazed that the government had used such a basic system for storing such sensitive information.
Mr. Hancock admitted: “This should never have happened. But the team has acted quickly to minimize its impact and it is now critical that we work together to correct this and make sure it never happens again. “
No10 launched an investigation into why the missing cases were not identified by Friday night.
Additional contact markers were brought in on Saturday morning. Hancock made an emergency call with the nine regional mayors of England.
(Image: Lee McLean / SWNS)
Manchester now has the highest rate in England, with 2,740 cases recorded in the seven days to October 1, a rate of 495.6 cases per 100,000 people, up from 223.2 the previous week.
Liverpool has the second highest rate, up 456.4 from 287.1, with 2,273 new cases.
Knowsley in Merseyside is in third place, up 452.1 from 300.3, with 682 new cases.
The figures come from a Press Association analysis based on data from Public Health England released on Sunday, which also show strong increases in Newcastle, Nottingham, Leeds and Sheffield.
Liverpool Mayor Joe Anderson said: “The whole testing situation is a dog’s breakfast and this fiasco will make it much more difficult for us to track the spread of the virus here.”
Newcastle City Council Leader Nick Forbes added: “This is another catastrophic failure.”
Mr. Hancock said the government’s assessment of the scale of the pandemic “has not changed substantially” based on the new data.
The prime minister said the higher updated figures were more in line with forecasts.
No10 said the new restrictions last week would not have been handled differently in light of the figures, as the decision was based on a wide range of data.
But Mr. Ashworth said: “The prime minister told us on May 20 that we would have a world system in place in June. It is now October.
“The government is failing on the basics. When will it finally fix this mess?”
Boris Johnson, who is addressing the Tories virtual conference today, is expected to announce a “three-tier” system this week to simplify local closings.
The ministers will also establish plans for tests at airports.
Wales is considering quarantine restrictions for people arriving from parts of the UK with the most cases.
[ad_2]
