Thousands 'pinged' to self-isolate in Dorset
There's been a sharp rise in people being asked to self-isolate through the Test and Trace app.
More and more people are being asked to self-isolate in Dorset through the Test and Trace app.
The latest figures show a 50% rise in 'pings' in the week ending the 14th July, which includes the three days following the Euro 2020 final on Sunday 11th July.
Isolation is recommended but not mandatory, if someone is alerted by the app, while those contacted by Test and Trace have a legal duty to self-isolate.
The app logs how much time you spend in close quarters with other people who have the app downloaded. If one of the people it logs as a high risk tests positive for coronavirus, you'll be pinged.
Meanwhile, hundreds more people have also been asked to self-isolate by Track and Trace here.
Department for Health and Social Care data shows 1,450 people were told to self-isolate after being in contact with someone who tested positive for Covid-19 in the week to July 14 – the latest available data.
This was up from 1,160 the week before, and means 2,610 people have been told to isolate in the latest 14 days alone.
Contact tracers ask new patients to give details for anyone they were in close contact with in the 48 hours before their symptoms started.
The figures show 1,622 people who came into close contact with someone who tested positive for Covid-19 in Dorset were transferred to Test and Trace in the week to July 14.
It means 172 contacts were not reached by the service. The figures do not include those told to isolate in specific settings such as schools and prisons.
The 'pinging' problem
The Government has come under fire after businesses revealed they were struggling to cope with increasing numbers of people being "pinged" by the app.
Pictures of empty supermarket shelves were widely shared online, suggesting the app was causing disruption to the sector.
Richard Walker, managing director of supermarket giant Iceland, said the firm was having to hire 2,000 temporary workers to prepare for “the exponential rise in pinging”.
The British Retail Consortium has urged ministers to “act fast” to allow fully-vaccinated workers, or those who test negative, to be exempt from isolation if notified by the Covid-19 app.
The Government will introduce a wider relaxation for all double-jabbed individuals but that will not come until August 16 – a month after most coronavirus laws ended.
That date “feels a long time away”, however, BRC chief executive Helen Dickinson said, as she warned stores are closing, hours are being reduced and consumers are facing reduced choice.
Business Minister Kwasi Kwarteng had to tell businesses to “stick to the rules” after a food distribution company struggling with staff shortages advised workers who are pinged by the NHS app to take tests and continue working, in breach of the Government advice.
He said: “I would stick to the rules, which are very clear, which say that if you are pinged you should self-isolate.”