Areas around UK could face lockdown due to 'missed' data

London, Oct 6 A number of areas in the UK could face local lockdowns after it was revealed that nearly 16,000 daily coronavirus 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.

Te 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.

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

( With inputs from IANS )