Almost 700,000 people were sent self-isolation alerts from the NHS Covid-19 app in England and Wales last week.
The latest NHS figures show that 689,313 contact tracing alerts were sent in England and Wales in the period between July 15 and 21. It is a new record, up by 70,000 from 618,903 "pings" in the previous week
In England 678,102 alerts were sent to app users, with a further 11,211 sent in Wales. It is an 11% rise from the previous week.
Alerts on the NHS Covid-19 app inform users if they have been in close contact with a positive coronavirus case. If an individual is pinged by the app, they are advised to self-isolate for up to 10 days.
Read more: Coronavirus infection rates, cases and deaths for all parts of Wales on Thursday, July 29
Being "pinged" is advisory only and not enforceable by law. If you are called by the NHS track and trace team, however, isolating is a legal requirement.
The new record comes after numerous reports of people choosing to delete the NHS app to avoid receiving the notification amidst the what has been dubbed a "pingdemic".
Train operators, hospitals, bin collections, supermarkets, care homes, and many other businesses have lost thousands of staff to self isolation rules.
In Wales, the latest figures from Wednesday, July 28, showed 588 new cases, giving a total of 239,295 since the pandemic began. Six new deaths were reported.
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