Coronavirus UK news – Covid ‘pretty much over’ with Britain ‘close to herd immunity’ thanks to vaccines, expert says

NEW RECORD FOR COVID APP SELF-ISOLATION ALERTS AS ‘PINGDEMIC’ CONTINUES

The number of people being told to self-isolate has reached another record high, with almost 700,000 alerts sent to Covid app users in England and Wales.

The so-called “pingdemic” saw a further rise last week, with 689,313 alerts sent to users of the NHS Covid-19 app telling them they had been in close contact with someone who had tested positive for coronavirus.

The latest NHS figures, for the week to July 21, are an 11% rise on the previous record high of 619,733 alerts a week earlier.

This week the Government said it was expanding its daily contact testing for front-line sectors who are exempt from isolation.

A total of 2,000 sites across the country are available for people working in prisons, waste collection, defence, the food industry, transport, Border Force and police and fire services.

Daily negative test results will enable eligible workers who have been alerted by the NHS Covid-19 app or called by NHS Test and Trace as coronavirus contacts to continue working.