UK coronavirus LIVE: Covid-19 cases surge after Excel data 'shambles' as Rishi Sunak vows to get debt 'back under control'

A technical glitch which meant almost 16,000 Covid-19 cases went unreported has been slammed as "shambolic" after it emerged it led to delays in tracing contacts of people with coronavirus.

The number of UK Covid cases surged by 22,961 on Sunday after it was revealed that thousands of cases were not included in daily reports, due to some data files reporting positive test results exceeding the maximum file size.

On Monday evening, Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the data issues should never have happened. It came as more than 12,000 new cases of coronavirus were confirmed in the UK.

Meanwhile, in a speech to the virtual Conservative Party conference, Chancellor Rishi Sunak issued a warning that pandemic levels of spending and borrowing cannot go on forever, as he pledged to take action to get debt “back under control” in the medium term.

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