More than half a million people in England were pinged by the NHS Test and Trace app in just a week.
There were 520,194 alerts sent out in the week ending July 7–the highest figure recorded since the data began being published in January. It is a rise of 46 per cent on the previous week when 356,677 people were alerted.
It comes as the NHS was warned to prepare for a triple threat of respiratory viruses this winter with as many 60,000 deaths from flu under the worse-case scenario set out in a new report.
The report, commissioned by chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance, said that a mix of Covid-19, influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), could put severe strain on the NHS this winter.
On Thursday the UK recorded 48,553 new Covid cases and 63 more deaths.
Seven days ago there were 32,551 new cases and 35 deaths.
