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Health officials said the problem, described by the prime minister as a “computer problem,” meant that the cases in future days would also include cases that occurred between September 24 and October 1. The NHS test and trace app was launched on September 24.
On Sunday night, Jonathan Ashworth, Labor’s shadow health secretary, said: “This is a disaster and, understandably, people across the country will be alarmed.
“Matt Hancock should come to the House of Commons on Monday to explain what the hell has happened, what impact it has had on our ability to contain this virus, and what he plans to do to correct the testing and tracing.”
Public Health England said most of the cases occurred in the past few days.
Other sources said that some referrals, which should have automatically activated NHS Test and Trace to initiate contact tracing, are only now being enacted, despite positive cases dating back to mid-September.
The situation has added to the confusion over the spread of the coronavirus and the impact of measures aimed at reducing transmission.
Susan Hopkins, Joint Medical Advisor for Test and Trace and PHE, said: “Our analysis now shows that this problem affected a total of 15,841 cases … and the majority occurred in the last few days. This means that the total number of positive cases during this period was higher than previously reported.
“Of these, more than 75 percent (11,968) are related to cases that should have been reported between September 30 and October 2. This issue did not affect the people who received the Covid-19 test results and all the people who tested positive received their Covid-19 test result in the normal way. “
