July 2, 2020 10.12 pm This story is over 44 months old

New data shows over 80% old extra COVID-19 cases in Lincolnshire

An extra 1,400 confirmed cases added to the tally
Photo: Daniel Jaines for The Lincolnite

The number of cases of coronavirus confirmed in Lincolnshire has increased by more than 1,400 (80%) after new testing figures were included on Wednesday.

Government figures released today show that a total of 3,328 coronavirus cases in Greater Lincolnshire including both pillar one (hospital and health care testing), and historic pillar two (fixed testing sites, mobile and home testing) data.

They are broken down as follows

  • 2,410 in Lincolnshire (up from 1,158)
  • 715 in North Lincolnshire (up from 524)
  • 203 in North East Lincolnshire (up from 166)

The total increase including the data was 1,480.

Nationally there have now been 283,757 cases and 43,995 deaths.

Earlier today, two new COVID-19 related deaths have been reported in hospitals, taking the Greater Lincolnshire death total to 334.

Since the first Lincolnshire case was confirmed on March 6, all media has published the number of positive tests across the UK and Greater Lincolnshire using figures published by government on a daily basis.

However, earlier this week it was revealed those numbers only cover pillar one data (hospital and health care testing), with government not disclosing the community testing of pillar two (fixed testing sites, mobile and home testing).

It meant that testing centres such as Lincolnshire Showground had not had their test results included in government’s data as of yet.

The increase in cases revealed by the previously undisclosed government data received from private contractors has seen localised lockdown measures introduced in Leicester.

Health bosses in the county had been trying for weeks to obtain post-code level data for the county but struggled to do so, they predicted that once figures were released there could see a “significant” spike in reported cases.

Derek Ward, director of public health at Lincolnshire County Council, said on Wednesday: “We would expect a significant number of people will have tested positive in Lincolnshire through the Showground and the mobile testing units, and that data should be available to us quite soon and we’ll report it.”