PHE statement on delayed reporting of COVID-19 cases

Interim Chief Executive, PHE, Michael Brodie said:

A technical issue was identified overnight on Friday 2 October in the data load process that transfers COVID-19 positive lab results into reporting dashboards. 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 most recent days.

Every one of these cases received their COVID-19 test result as normal and all those who tested positive who were advised to self-isolate.

NHS Test and Trace and PHE have worked to quickly resolve the issue and transferred all outstanding cases immediately into the NHS Test and Trace contact tracing system and I would like to thank contact tracing and health protection colleagues for their additional efforts over the weekend.

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

Test and Trace and PHE Joint Medical Advisor Susan Hopkins, said:

Our analysis now shows that this issue affected a total of 15,841 cases from the period between 25 September and 2 October, with the majority occurring in recent days. This means the total number of positive cases over this period was higher than previously reported.

Of these, over 75% (11,968) relate to cases that should have been reported between 30 September and 2 October.

This issue did not affect people receiving their COVID-19 test results and all people who tested positive have received their COVID-19 test result in the normal way. It also does not impact the basis on which decisions about local action were taken last week.

All outstanding cases were immediately transferred to the contact tracing system by 1am on 3 October and a thorough public health risk assessment was undertaken to ensure outstanding cases were prioritised for contact tracing effectively.

The advice remains the same. If you have tested positive you must self-isolate immediately for at least 10 days from when your symptoms began and we urge everyone who is contacted by NHS Test and Trace to provide details of their recent contacts.