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Coronavirus cases up by 17% in England, new Test and Trace figures show

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A 17 per cent increase in coronavirus cases in England was revealed today.

Latest weekly statistics from the NHS’s controversial Test and Trace system revealed that 4,966 people tested positive for Covid-19 between July 23-29.

This is 713 more cases than in the previous week, and the third successive weekly rise.

All but 11 of the additional cases were in the “community” rather than in hospital – being detected in drive-through centres or via home-testing kits.

Today’s figures also show that the Test and Trace system, which is costing the Government £10 billion to set up and run, performs worse when it faces a higher workload.

In the most recent week – the ninth since it was established at the end of May – it reached 79.4 per cent of the 4,642 infected people it was asked to trace, down from 81.4 per cent in week eight.

Of the 19,150 contacts of those infected people who were identified, 72.4 per cent were reached and asked to self-isolate, a decrease from 76.2 per cent in the previous week.

This story is being updated.

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