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HomeUK News'Pingdemic' record as 689,313 alerts are sent from NHS app in a...

‘Pingdemic’ record as 689,313 alerts are sent from NHS app in a week

A record number of 689,313 alerts were sent out, with businesses within all UK sectors have complained that they are struggling to maintain operations

A record number of 689,313 alerts were sent out to users of the official NHS COVID-19 app in both England and Wales in a week, NHS figures have shown.

The alerts tell people that they have come in close contact with someone who has tested positive for COVID-19.

This record-breaking new number was recorded in the week leading up to the 21st of July, and is an 11.4% increase from the number recorded in the week before.

The previous week’s numbers showed that the app had pinged a total of 618,903 people.

Business leaders within all sectors have complained that they are struggling to maintain their operations with so many members of staff having been told to stay at home to break the transmission.

This comes after The government has already announced that those who have received two doses of the vaccine will no longer be required to self-isolate after they have come in contact with someone who tests positive for the coronavirus from the 16th of August.

The government has said that some essential workers can now use daily testing to avoid having to isolate.

The UK car industry has joined in calls for the government to bring forward the date for exempting fully-vaccinated adults from self-isolation restrictions.

It comes following a slump in production blamed on the so-called “pingdemic”.

According to a key business survey, stock levels in relation to the expected sales across the distribution sector had reached a new record low this month.

Retailers are now fretting over supplies, as well as staffing, as a result of the number of people who are being pinged by the app.

This week the UK government said that it was expanding its daily contact-testing for front-line sectors who are exempt from self-isolation rules.

The government is also making 2,000 sites across the country are available for people working in prisons, waste collection, defence, the food industry, transport, Border Force and police and fire services.

Daily negative coronavirus test results will enable eligible those workers who have been alerted by the NHS COVID-19 app, or those who have been called by NHS Test and Trace as COVID-19 contacts to continue working.

This comes after the foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, has said that he believes the opportunities for international travel can within the near future be opened up further as “the momentum forward is positive”.

The number of alerts has been reported as the latest NHS Test and Trace figures show that a total of 307,758 had been confirmed to have coronavirus at least once in the week to the 21st of July.

Five hundred ninety-seven thousand two hundred sixty people were identified as coming into close contact with someone who had tested positive.

This is the highest number to have been recorded since the 13th of January.

Meanwhile, the government has said that it is “increasingly confident” that more countries will soon be added onto the UK’s amber and green travel lists.

Eve Cooper
Eve Cooper
I've been writing articles and stories for as long as I can remember and in the past few years I've had the fortune of turning that love & passion for writing into my job :)

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