The British government has launched an investigation into how nearly 16,000 new cases of coronavirus were not reported as a result of a technical glitch, a failure that could have given a fresh impetus to the outbreak that critics say can easily get out of control.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock told lawmakers on Monday that the problem was with “automated file transfer”. It is widely believed that the problem is related to file size limitations in the Excel spreadsheets used in the test and trace software.

“This is a serious case that is being fully investigated,” Hancock said. “Now it is extremely important that we work together to fix it and make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

Hancock’s appearance in the House of Commons came after the revelation over the weekend that 15,841 virus cases had not been scheduled from September 25 to October 2. Although those who tested positive for the virus have been told of their status, their contacts – potentially around 50,000 people – have not been identified. Traced, a failure that would have allowed the virus to thrive.

He said that 51% of those who tested positive for the virus were contacted again and that they were contacted immediately afterwards.

Despite the addition of several new cases, he said that the government’s chief medical officer “has not significantly changed his mind” about the course of the epidemic in the United Kingdom, which like other countries in Europe is experiencing a second rise in the virus.

Jonathan Ashworth, Hancock’s counterpart in the main opposition Labor party, said the failure showed how “messy” the Conservative government’s plan to fight the pandemic was and that the last problem plaguing the nation’s testing system was “putting lives at risk”.

Lawmakers from all parties have criticized Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government for lacking testing capacity, which means some people have been required to travel hundreds of miles to get tested, and delays in notifying people of their test results.

The cause of the latter problem appears to be the Excel file exceeding the limit during an automatic process. Although the software is a staple of consumer settings, experts say it has a number of limitations for use on much larger projects.

“If this is Excel as it has been reported, the limitations of Excel, which is generally a very good piece of software, in terms of big data, are well known,” said John Crockroft, professor of communication systems at Cambridge University.

For the test and tracking software to function well, contacts should be notified as quickly as possible, preferably within hours. So the failure of the authorities to inform people of potential exposure to the virus could lead to more positive cases and the subsequent need for the government to impose more unwanted restrictions on daily life.

Ashworth criticized the government for its recent failure “at one of the most important points in the epidemic,” adding that those in contact with these new, unreported cases may have been “unaware, fortunately, that they had been exposed to COVID, which could spread this deadly virus at a time when hospitalizations are increasing while we are in.” Second wave. “

“This is not just mess – it’s much worse than this – and it’s not comfortable for me to say this, but it puts lives at risk,” Ashworth added.

The unreported cases were added to the government’s total of new daily infections over the weekend, which raised the number of cases on Saturday to 12,872, and Sunday’s case to 22,961. This compares to an average of 7,000 new cases per day in the previous four days. The number of new cases reported on Monday decreased to 12,594, but due to the adjustments regarding the missing cases, it was impossible to know the trend.

Paul Hunter, professor of medicine at the University of East Anglia, described this anomaly as “very disappointing”.

“For the testing, tracking and tracing system to have a real impact on limiting the transmission of COVID-19, it is essential that test results be reported quickly,” he said.

Like other countries in Europe, the UK has seen a spike in coronavirus cases over the past few weeks, prompting the government to announce a series of restrictions, both nationally and locally, to curb the infection. The new rules limit the number of people allowed to gather together and impose a curfew in bars.

The UK has the highest number of virus-related deaths in Europe at 42,400. The government’s chief scientific adviser warned two weeks ago that if no further restrictions were imposed, the country could end up with 50,000 new cases per day by mid-October, resulting in hundreds of daily deaths. A month later.

Confusion over the daily test numbers adds to uncertainty over whether the restrictions are suppressing the virus.

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