Record number are ‘pinged’ by virus app

The number of people being told to self-isolate has reached another record high, with almost 700,000 alerts sent to Covid app users in England and Wales.

The so-called "pingdemic" saw a further rise last week, with 689,313 alerts sent to users of the NHS Covid-19 app telling them they had been in close contact with someone who had tested positive for coronavirus.

The latest NHS figures, for the week to July 21, are an 11% rise on the previous record high of 619,733 alerts a week earlier.

This week the Government said it was expanding its daily contact testing for front-line sectors who are exempt from isolation, and Downing Street has now confirmed that some 260 testing sites are open, while 800 more are "in the process" of being set up for support workers in critical industries.

Daily negative test results will enable eligible workers, including those in prisons, waste collection, defence, the food industry, transport, Border Force and police and fire services, who have been alerted by the NHS Covid-19 app or called by NHS Test and Trace as coronavirus contacts, to continue working. Meanwhile, one in four young adults who test positive no longer follow the rules for self-isolating, according to a new survey.

The Office for National Statistics said 75% of those aged between 18 and 34 said they fully adhered to the isolation requirements for the entire 10-day period after testing positive for coronavirus.

This was “significantly" lower than the 86% of 35 to 54-year-olds.