Coronavirus: Highest daily UK cases since June on day government fails to publish data

Joint Biosecurity Centre advised that infections should be below 1,000 a day if 'flare-ups' are to be avoided

Confirmed cases of Covid-19 in the UK have risen to the highest daily total since mid-June, breaching an official government threshold.

Ministers failed to publish data last night – blaming “technical difficulties” – but the figure of 1,148 was mysteriously posted on a separate website, for the 24 hours to 9am on Tuesday.

It is the highest since there were 1,221 new daily infections on 21 June. The Joint Biosecurity Centre (JBC) has raised the alarm over any figure above 1,000.

In May, the centre set keeping the caseload below 1,000 confirmed infections a day was a key target it believed must be met if “flare-ups” of coronavirus are to be avoided.

The Department of Health and Social Care is playing down the significance of the ceiling, insisting there are still “low levels of disease compared to the start of the pandemic”.

But Christina Pagel, of the Independent Sage group of scientists, said Boris Johnson must set out if he would be changing strategy, as infections rise again.

“The JBC set 1,000 cases a day as a warning threshold – but we don't know what action is meant to be taken on the back of it, or why they picked 1,000,” said the research professor at University College London.

“We don’t know whether the government is actually planning on changing strategy in light of ticking up numbers. Or even, what government strategy is in general.

“Mr Johnson has said opening schools a priority but he hasn't given any detail of what that means in terms of policy, nor any indication that they are trying to drive down cases before schools open in England.”

Professor Pagel has argued infections are rising far faster than the increase in testing, although the increase is far slower, so far, than in other European countries where alarm bells are ringing.

In May, a JBC document, setting out future targets, stated: “Decreasing daily incidence of symptomatic cases in all regions across the UK until the target acceptable incidence is reached, then incidence kept below that target.

“This target is yet to be specified and needs to be spelt out. We suggest 1,000 new symptomatic swab +ve [positive] cases per day in the UK.”

A Department of Health spokesperson said data on the official dashboard – https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/ – would be published as normal on Wednesday, after technical problems were resolved.

Confusingly, it releases Public Health England data, while the webpage where the latest cases tally was revealed is a publication by the department itself.

For that reason, it does not list daily deaths – after Matt Hancock, the health secretary, ordered a review into whether PHE is overstating them.

There is growing criticism of declining transparency about the Covid picture, over the summer months, with parliament shut down and the once-daily press conferences abandoned.

On Sunday, when the daily total first breached 1,000, a department spokesperson said: "The UK continues to have low levels of disease compared to the start of the pandemic and, thanks to our large testing capacity, we are able to detect more cases now than ever before.

“We will not hesitate to take necessary steps to stop the spread of the virus and continue to urge the public to play their part by following government guidance.”