A technical glitch that meant nearly 16,000 cases of coronavirus went unreported has delayed efforts to trace contacts of people who tested positive in the United Kingdom.
Women wear masks to protect themselves from Covid-19 in Liverpool. Photo: AFP
Public Health England said 15,841 cases between 25 September and 2 October were left out of the UK daily case figures.
They were then added to Saturday's figure of 12,872 new cases and Sunday's 22,961 figure.
PHE said all those who tested positive had been informed. But it means others in close contact with them were not.
The issue has been resolved, PHE said, with outstanding cases passed on to tracers by Saturday.
The technical issue also means that daily totals reported on the government's coronavirus dashboard over the last week have been lower than the true number.
The BBC's health editor Hugh Pym said daily figures for the end of the week were "actually nearer 11,000", rather than the around 7000 reported.
Labour has described the glitch as "shambolic".
A security guard checks people's temperatures before they enter a bar in Liverpool. Photo: AFP
Meanwhile, the head of the government's vaccine taskforce, Kate Bingham, has told the Financial Times that less than half of the UK population could be vaccinated against coronavirus.
"There is going to be no vaccination of people under 18," she said. "It's an adult-only vaccine for people over 50, focusing on health workers, care home workers and the vulnerable."
PM warns of 'bumpy' ride
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has warned it could be "bumpy through to Christmas" and beyond as the UK deals with coronavirus.
Speaking to the BBC's Andrew Marr, Johnson said there was "hope" of beating Covid, and called on the public to "act fearlessly but with common sense".
On Sunday, the government's coronavirus dashboard said that there had been a further 22,961 lab-confirmed cases of coronavirus in the UK, bringing the total number of cases in the UK to 502,978.
Another 33 people were reported to have died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19 as of Sunday.
Public Health England's interim chief executive Michael Brodie said a "technical issue" was identified overnight on 2 October in the process that transfers Covid-19 positive lab results into reporting dashboards.
It was caused by some data files reporting positive test results exceeding the maximum file size.
"After rapid investigation, we have identified that 15,841 cases between 25 September and 2 October were not included in the reported daily Covid-19 cases. The majority of these cases occurred in the most recent days," he said.
"Every one of these cases received their Covid-19 test result as normal and all those who tested positive were advised to self-isolate."
He said they worked with NHS Test and Trace to "quickly resolve the issue and transferred all outstanding cases immediately into the NHS Test and Trace contact tracing system".
Therese Coffey Photo: AFP
"We fully understand the concern this may cause and further robust measures have been put in place as a result," he said.
Work and Pensions secretary Therese Coffey told BBC Breakfast PHE had identified and rectified the glitch and would ensure it did not happen again. But she was unable to say if contacts of those who had tested positive had been traced and told to self-isolate where appropriate.
Labour's shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth said: "This is shambolic and people across the country will be understandably alarmed.
"[Health Secretary] Matt Hancock should come to the House of Commons on Monday to explain what on earth has happened, what impact it has had on our ability to contain this virus, 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".
- BBC