Covid cases in Wales could DOUBLE for the last week after IT problem
Covid cases in Wales could DOUBLE for the last week after IT problem causes 11,000 positive tests to be missed from official figures
- Computer issue means 11,000 positive tests were not added to last week’s total
- They will be added on Thursday and will double first week of December cases
- The 11,000 positive tests represent around a tenth of total Wales Covid cases
- Wales will go back into lockdown once five-day Christmas rule relaxation ends
A computer glitch has seen 11,000 coronavirus cases missed from the official count in Wales over the last week.
The oversight means the tally for December 9 to 15 could double from its current total 11,911 positive swabs, when the additional cases are added later today.
Public Health Wales has blamed the oversight on ‘planned maintenance’ of some IT systems, in an error that has hidden the resurgence of Covid-19 after the nation’s fire-break lockdown.
The error has been branded a ‘staggering data cock-up’ by the nation’s shadow health minister Andrew Davies, who said it showed the Labour administration had ‘clearly lost control of the virus in Wales’.
Wales is set to enter its third lockdown on December 28, with gyms and non-essential shops required to close alongside pubs and restaurants, less than two months after First Minister Mark Drakeford plunged Wales into a 14-day fire-break.
Mr Drakeford said yesterday, before the missed cases were revealed, the measures were necessary because the situation had become ‘so serious’.
He has also tightened laws over Christmas get-togethers, breaking from the UK-wide approach to say just two households will be allowed to mix rather than three.
Wales currently has the highest infection rate in the UK – 425 per 100,000 people – and the First Minister said one in five people are testing positive.
It is not the first time health chiefs have botched their numbers, after Public Health England admitted in October it had missed 16,000 cases from the UK official tally due to an Excel spreadsheet blunder.
As many as 30,000 positive tests also had to be removed from the UK total in July, after PHE admitted it had ‘double-counted’ its figures.
PHW says positive tests from Lighthouse laboratories, which were set up to process Covid-19 swabs, had not been added to its total after a computer systems update between December 11 and 12.
A spokesman said a ‘very large backlog’ of cases, in the region of 11,000, would be added to their figures when their case numbers are updated around 2pm.
They added the error had not stopped individuals receiving their results, meaning anyone who tested positive was notified and told to self-isolate.
Wales’ total case count during the pandemic is expected to jump by a tenth today when the missed cases are added.
Mr Drakeford insisted on BBC Breakfast the missed cases ‘isn’t due to a computer problem’.
‘This was planned upgrading of the computer system,’ he said, ‘none of the data is missing, everybody who had a positive test in Wales was told that last week, everything was uploaded’.
‘But the figures do demonstrate just how serious the position here in Wales has become and underlines why we made the decisions yesterday, both in the lead-up to Christmas, during Christmas, and once Christmas is over.’
Plaid Cymru’s health spokesman Rhun ap lorwerth told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme the blunder ‘raises questions about the way data is analysed’.
‘It raises questions again about the interaction between what is controlled in Wales and the Lighthouse laboratories, and it’s one of those things that again sort of rocks trust in what’s happening and the data that’s presented to us,’ he said.
‘I must say when the First Minister announced yesterday that from the 28th there would be a tightening of restrictions, and I could see the figures as they were, one wondered why not do things now in terms of stepping up support for areas most heavily affected, but this does put a new slant on it again.
He added: ‘This is a serious bulk of figures being added to the total today and it raises questions about the way data is analysed.’
Calling a third lockdown yesterday, Mr Drakeford said a ‘sustained rise in coronavirus cases’ meant the draconian curbs on daily life were needed.
‘The situation we are facing is extremely serious,’ he said. ‘We must move to alert level four and tighten the restrictions to control the spread of coronavirus and save lives.’
Non-essential shops and gyms will close earlier – on the evening of Christmas Eve – while all restaurants, pubs and bars will shut from 6pm on Christmas Day. From December 28, tighter rules will restrict household mixing, travel and holiday accommodation
Mark Drakeford said today that Wales would be going back into lockdown once a relaxation of rules over Christmas comes to an end
Yesterday it was announced that 29 people had died from coronavirus in Wales, a seven per cent drop from last Wednesday when 31 people succumbed to the virus.
A further 530 cases were announced, although total case numbers are expected to rise significantly today when the country’s figures are updated.
Wales’ last lockdown, a 17-day firebreak, ended on November 8.
The latest figures for the country reveal an additional 2,100 people are in hospital with the virus, and a record 98 are in intensive care.
Matthew Jones, clinical director for emergency care at the Prince of Wales hospital, told ITV that ambulances were queuing outside with patients.
He said: ‘With the ambulances outside like this, there’s a strong argument that we are beyond crisis point – that this isn’t safe.’
