Another 18 die in UK as ‘technical issues’ halt daily tally of coronavirus cases again
It's the second time Public Health England have had 'technical difficulties' this week.
Another 18 people have lost their lives after testing positive for coronavirus, bringing the UK’s official toll up to 41,347.
However ‘technical difficulties’ at Public Health England mean the Government is not expecting to update the daily tally of cases today. A very similar problem occurred on Tuesday this week.
Yesterday another 1,009 cases were confirmed by the Department of Health, bringing the total number of infections to 313,798.
Explaining today’s delay, Public Health England said: ‘Owing to technical difficulties with data processing, the England and UK cases and tests data is not expected to be updated today.’
It comes after the Government changed the way it records fatalities over concerns a faulty methodology was inflating the numbers. Under Public Health England’s old system someone who tested positive for Covid-19 and then died months later of any cause, even being hit by a bus, would still be counted.
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Now England, which accounts for 85% of the UK’s population, has followed the lead of Scotland and Wales, who have a 28 cut off time after someone is diagnosed with the disease.
Despite the change resulting in the UK’s death toll shrinking by 5,377, Britain still has the worst toll in Europe, followed by Italy at around 35,200.
Today epidemiologist professor Tim Spector, of King’s College London said the UK doesn’t appear to be heading towards a second wave but is instead trying to finish its first.
According to data from the Covid Symptom Study, there were 1,434 daily new cases in the UK on average over the two weeks up to August 8, excluding care homes.
The figures are based on the data from 10,988 swab tests taken between July 26 and August 8. The stats also indicate there are an estimated 24,131 people in the UK who currently have symptomatic Covid-19.
Analysing the figures, Prof Tim Spector, of King’s College London, said: ‘It’s encouraging to see that the numbers are coming down slightly across the UK and that the isolated outbreaks in the North of England appear to be well contained so far.
‘This is further confirmation that we aren’t at the beginning of a second wave and rather, still trying to end the first. The figures also suggest that the outbreaks we are seeing in other countries such as Belgium, France and Spain aren’t having an effect here in the UK yet.’
Today it emerged a total of 292 employees at a sandwich factory supplying Marks & Spencer tested positive for coronavirus.
Greencore, based in Northampton, decided to carry out its own tests after a spike in cases in the town. It said the staff who received positive results are all self-isolating.
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