The Public Health Wales or PHW stated that a delay in reporting the additional 11,000 positive COVID-19 tests in figures in Wales means that the reported cases from last week was not accurate and is twice as high as they thought.
COVID-19 tests delayed
PHW also stated that planned IT maintenance meant that there was under-reporting that happened, but anyone who has tested positive of COVID-19 had been contacted through phone and email.
However, the issue relates to tests that were processed in lighthouse laboratories. Government officials called the news "staggering".
The 11,000 additional positive tests were taken between December 9 and December 15. PHW stated that the vast majority have been added to its dashboard on December 17.
The figures on the dashboard show an additional 4,221 cases that have been added to the total for the week ending December 11. It was an adjustment that was reported on December 16.
A total of 11,250 cases have been added. This means that the latest weekly case rates have increased as a direct result.
For Wales, it has increased to 530.2 cases per 100,000 for the most recent week, up until December 12. The case rate stood at 377.8 on December 16, though PHW warned the public that it was an underestimation of what everyone should expect.
The new figures show the case rate for Merthyr Tydfil, which already has the highest in the United Kingdom, and it is now 1,032.7 cases per 100,000 with 623 positive tests last week.
There are 14 out of 22 council areas which have their highest case rates including Flintshire, Wrexham and Denbighshire. If figures have been correct, three other council areas would have reported their highest figures on December 16.
On December 11, PHW warned planned maintenance of the NHS Welsh Laboratory Information Management System or WLMS would affect its daily reporting of COVID-19 figures.
A spokeswoman for PHW stated that the glitch did not affect the way that people received their test results, and anyone who has tested positive of COVID-19 will be contacted by their local authority's Test, Trace, Protect team.
Mark Drakeford, the First Minister, told BBC Radio Wales that the issue is not about missing data or computer problems, it is about the seriousness of the whole situation. He said that the data was never missing, it was just delayed and it was always there, waiting to be uploaded into the system.
The health spokesman of Plaid Cymru, Rhun ap Iorwerth said that positive cases in Wales are rising and it is important that the reporting of data is both timely and robust. He said that the public need a complete and current picture of the situation to know the gravity of what they are facing.
A spokesman of the Welsh government said that the issue was caused by a planned upgrade which they were aware of and that was publicized in advanced. He added that the data was not lost, just delayed in being uploaded.
On December 16, it was reported that 30 more people had died due to COVID-19 in Wales and 530 more cases were announced. The figures of PHW take the total death in Wales to 2,921, with 6,193 test carried out as of December 15.
After the latest numbers were updated, it was announced that Wales will go into lockdown starting December 28, according to BBC.
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Written by Sieeka Khan
