Government under pressure amid accusations of 'burying' coronavirus data on local outbreaks

A Yorkshire MP has joined a chorus of politicians expressing their frustration over the confusion in local coronavirus testing data reaching leaders on the ground.

Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford Labour MP Yvette Cooper said health authorities in her West Yorkshire constituency had been trying to get hold of what is known as pillar two testing data - the data on coronavirus tests processed by private labs - but had not been able to.

The issue is long running with local leaders insisting that even though they may have received some of this data, it had not been on a granular enough level, for example including postcodes, to sufficiently plan for any local lockdowns or identify trends.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Instead they had relied on pillar one data - processed in NHS or Public Health England (PHE) labs.

A man cleans social distancing markers as further coronavirus lockdown restrictions are lifted in England. Photo: PAA man cleans social distancing markers as further coronavirus lockdown restrictions are lifted in England. Photo: PA
A man cleans social distancing markers as further coronavirus lockdown restrictions are lifted in England. Photo: PA

But it meant the true picture of outbreaks was not shown, with cases in Leicester, for example, where a local lockdown has been imposed jumping from 1,059 with pillar one data, to 3,216 Covid-19 cases confirmed when you include pillar two figures.

Last week, the mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham said the number of positive pillar one positive cases was 78 but this leapt to 465 when combined with the pillar two data.

Ms Cooper tweeted: “Our local public health teams, council, NHS doctors and managers in Wakefield have had to fight for months to try to get this data.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“In public health crisis, most important thing is knowing where infection is. Appalling and incomprehensible that basic info hasn’t been provided.

“The idea this could have been ministerial choice rather than failure of competence is even more shocking. What on earth is going on?”

The Government was today accused of “at best burying, at worst suppressing” the crucial data.

During Prime Minister’s questions, Bedford and Kempston MP Mohammad Yasin said that the implications of not publishing information on local cases and testing were “deadly serious”.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Labour MP Mr Yasin said he had asked Mr Johnson how he knew Bedford was safe to enter the next phase of lockdown easing when the Government was not publishing this “vital data” needed to make decisions to keep the public safe.

Mr Yasin added: “His trademark blustering answer dismissed my question but now we know for certain what we have for weeks suspected, that the Government is at best burying, at worst suppressing, a whole tranche of crucial health information in the midst of a pandemic.

“The implications of this are deadly serious and I will be raising this at the highest levels.”

His comments come after a PHE regional map showed the towns and cities currently suffering high numbers of cases per 100,000 people for pillar one and pillar two testing across England.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The data covers all mass testing in England, including that carried out in NHS and PHE labs, plus all community testing, drive-throughs and tests sent to people’s homes.

The map shows that those regions currently worst affected, with at least 45 cases per 100,000 in the week to June 21, are Leicester, which went into further lockdown on Tuesday; Barnsley, Bradford and Rochdale.

There are six areas in the next worst affected category – 30 to 44.9 cases per 100,000 – which are Bedford, Blackburn with Darwen, Tameside, Oldham, Kirklees and Rotherham.

While the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) publishes the complete testing data on a national level, it only publishes the pillar one figures for individual local authorities.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

There had also been concern over rising cases in Doncaster but health bosses played down the prospect of any local lockdown measures being imposed in the borough yesterday.

Dr Rupert Suckling, Director of Public Health at Doncaster Council, said in a statement: “More data is now becoming available nationally and this will be open to scrutiny and speculation."

He added that there had been a high number of positive cases since figures started including pillar two results.

Earlier a key scientist in the coronavirus response warned that Bradford and Doncaster are “clearly of concern”, with high rates of coronavirus.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Imperial College London’s Professor Neil Ferguson, who used to advise the Government, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “It’s inevitable we will (have further local outbreaks), we are relaxing lockdown rules and that means that contacts in the population are going up and that’s a very variable process.”

Asked about Bradford and Doncaster, he said: “Those are areas, where not as high as Leicester, but they have some of the highest numbers of cases per 100,000 of the population, which is the relevant measure, so they’re clearly of concern.”

The British Medical Association (BMA) has said the Government needs to be “more open and transparent with local Covid-19 data” and on how spikes will be dealt with.

The DHSC spokesman previously said that last week it had started securely sharing postcode-level testing data with all local authorities including Leicester.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Mr Johnson said in the Commons the Government “acted decisively” and “put on the brakes” in Leicester, and would not hesitate to do so elsewhere.

During PMQs, he said: “Actually the Government first took notice and acted that was going on in Leicester on June 8 because we could see there was an issue there.

“We sent mobile testing units shortly thereafter.

“We engaged actively with the authorities in Leicester, with public health in Leicester, with everyone responsible in Leicester, in the way we have done with other areas that have had similar issues.

“Unfortunately in Leicester, it did not prove possible to get the results that we have seen elsewhere so on Monday we took the decision, which I hope the right honourable gentleman approves of, to go into lockdown in Leicester.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“Because I have been absolutely clear with the House and with the country we are going forward, we have made huge progress but where necessary we will put on the brakes. We acted decisively and I think it was the right thing to do.”

Comment Guidelines

National World encourages reader discussion on our stories. User feedback, insights and back-and-forth exchanges add a rich layer of context to reporting. Please review our Community Guidelines before commenting.