New data suggests supermarkets and schools are the most common places to be infected

SUPERMARKETS are the most common place to catch coronavirus, Public Health England ( PHE) has warned, following a review of new data.

People who have tested positive had been to a supermarket more than any other location between Nov 9 and Nov 15, according to information collated through the NHS Test and Trace app.

Of those confirmed to have had the virus, 18.3 per cent of people said that they had been to a supermarket in the days leading up to their test.

The second and third most common locations visited by app users who had the virus were primary and secondary schools respectively, followed by hospitals. PHE sounded a note of caution by clarifying that the data did not prove where exactly people had contracted the virus.

“Supermarkets are one of the very few places that people can visit during lockdown so it is unsurprising that they feature strongly when people are asked where they have visited,” said Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the British Retail Consortium.

Ms Dickinson said that retailers “continue to follow all safety guidance to make their premises Covid-secure” amid an 11 per cent overall increase in infections.

The data went on to suggest that the number of contacts with exposure to the virus was highest among households and visitors.

Among t he new i nf or mation published by PHE are graphs which appear to show a plateau and decline in Covid rates in some areas of England.

It came as health authorities confirmed that 60.5 per cent of those who tested positive for Covid-19 throughout the second full week of November had their close contacts traced by the NHS scheme.

This figure is unchanged from the data published for the previous week, and marginally above the recorded low of 60.1 per cent which was logged on Oct 14.