Record number of people pinged by NHS Covid app in Bucks

A record 5,151 people in Bucks received an alert from the NHS Covid-19 app, the latest figures show.

Bucks mirrored the rest of the country with a record number of notifications being sent from the app in the week leading up to July 7.

In total, 520,194 alerts were sent in the UK, telling a person they had to isolate, as they have been in close contact with someone who has tested positive for coronavirus.

The figures were released yesterday (July 15), show in a week cases rose by 67.7% in Bucks, in the previous seven days 3,072 pings were recorded.

Despite Aylesbury Vale's Covid case numbers and hospital admissions sitting below the national average, Buckinghamshire reported the 14th most notifications out of local authorities within the UK.

The data recorded is accurate up to December 17, figures before that date might have been higher than reported by the NHS.

The high notifications is unsurprising given that new case numbers continue to increase across the UK. Yesterday's national figures reported another 48,553 positive test results throughout the country.

Those figures represent the highest number of daily cases reported in the UK since mid-January.

Yesterday, Robert Jenrick the communities and local government minister, told LBC he was concerned with how the app was working. He said to LBC Radio: "It is important that we have the app, that we take it seriously, that when we do get those messages we act accordingly. But we are going to give further thought to how we can ensure it is a proportionate response.

"We have indicated that for those who have been double vaccinated there are opportunities to take a more proportionate approach. We are concerned about absences as a result of being pinged, for example. That is one of the reasons why we do need to move to a more proportionate approach."

From Monday, people are expected to, but no longer legally obligated, to wear face masks in public spaces, this includes, bars, restaurants and public transport.