UK blames mysterious ‘technical issue’ for missing 16,000 coronavirus cases

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

The UK failed to add nearly 16,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus to its national track and trace system due to an unspecified “technical issue.” According to a report in The Daily Mail, the mistake occurred when a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet used to track confirmed cases of the virus reached its maximum file size and failed to update.

The government agency that helps oversee the UK’s pandemic response, Public Health England (PHE), said some 15,841 cases had been left out of national totals because of the error but did not specify what caused the so-called glitch.

“The issue was caused by the fact that some files containing positive test results exceeded their maximum file size”

“Initial findings indicate that the issue was caused by...

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source https://www.theverge.com/2020/10/5/21502141/uk-missing-coronavirus-cases-excel-spreadsheet-error