Some 16,000 Coronavirus cases in the UK went missing after the Excel spreadsheet they were being recorded in reached its maximum limit, and did not allow the automated process to add any more names.

A day after the UK government announced its highest number of new coronavirus cases in England, the reason behind the drastic rise has reportedly been revealed.

Test and Trace and Public Health England joint medical adviser, Susan Hopkins, said the issue had not prevented people receiving their test result or affected decision-making in local areas.

When I first heard that cases were missing I thought “can’t be an Excel problem, the rows run out at 1,048,576 which is bigger than even total cases”.

The British Government launches an investigation into how nearly 16,000 new coronavirus infections went unreported as a result of a technical glitch related to an Excel spreadsheet.