Preston saw 109 new cases of coronavirus confirmed during Sunday (4 October).
AdvertisementHowever, Public Health England has issued a statement to clarify the latest surge in cases.
A technical issue means many Covid-19 cases dated between 25 September and 2 October were not added to the daily totals – and have only been added to the totals in the last 48-hours, causing an apparent spike.
The delayed data meant it looks as though the UK had 22,961 confirmed cases in a single-day during Sunday, but many of these were confirmed throughout the last seven-days.
Read more: Where Preston’s coronavirus hotspots are
PHE’s interim chief executive 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.”
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Preston is currently subject to enhanced restrictions to try and halt the spread of coronavirus.
Read more: Penwortham bar temporarily closes after two staff members test positive for coronavirus
There have been 2,594 confirmed coronavirus cases in Preston since March.
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