Areas Around UK Could Face Lockdown Due to ‘Missed’ COVID-19 Data; PM Facing Ruling Party Rebellion Over Curbs Imposed

Cities and areas with universities, including Nottingham, Sheffield, Leeds and Oxford, have seen figures soar after the glitch which was reported on October 2, the Metro newspaper reported.

A number of areas in the UK could face local lockdown after it was revealed that nearly 16,000 daily COVID-19 cases went unreported due to a technical glitch, media reports said on Tuesday.

Cities and areas with universities, including Nottingham, Sheffield, Leeds and Oxford, have seen figures soar after the glitch which was reported on October 2, the Metro newspaper reported.

A Telegraph report said that residents in Nottingham city, which was not in the government Covid-19 ‘watch list’, were asked to prepare for lockdown measures. Following the glitch, the updated data revealed that the city would have been one of the worst areas in the country last week when compared with the pre-adjusted figures.

Despite this, the Department for Health has insisted the new figures do not impact its ‘watch list’ or change current restrictions in the area, according to the Telegraph report. The adjusted figures also revealed huge jumps in Manchester, Liverpool, Sheffield and Newcastle.

In a statement on Monday, Public Health England (PHE) said that 15,841 cases between September 25 and October 2 were left out of the country’s single-day case figures, the BBC reported. They were then added in to reach the October 3 figure of 12,872 new cases and the following day’s 22,961.

The glitch, which was caused by some data files reporting positive test results exceeding the maximum file size, also meant that the daily count reported on the government’s coronavirus dashboard over the past week was lower than the actual number.

Meanwhile, the ‘rule of six’ and the 10 pm pub curfew, which were imposed in the country as part of the government’s efforts to curb the spread of coronavirus, have led to UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson facing yet another Conservative Party rebellion, according to some media reports on Tuesday.

MPs will vote on Tuesday, the day the Prime Minister addresses the virtual Conservative Party conference, on the regulations which enforce the rule of six in England in order to allow them to continue, the Metro newspaper reported.

One of the key rebels, Steve Baker, said, “Consensus among Conservative MPs seems to be around two points – that children should be excluded from the rule of six and that the 10 pm curfew is not justified by evidence.

“I wouldn’t expect to win a vote on either issue. The reality is we need to persuade the government on all these matters,” he said. Baker further claimed that hard negotiations were happening in order to “keep the Conservative Party together”.

It comes after as many as 100 Conservative MPs were said to be gearing up for a lockdown revolt against their own government last week.

As of Tuesday, the UK has reported a total of 518,222 coronavirus cases and 42,459 deaths.