‘Pingdemic’: more than 1,500 people in Worthing advised to isolate in one week

Latest NHS figures show 1,595 people were sent alerts in the week ending July 14 – an increase of more than 350 from the previous week.

But the 28.6 per cent increase was considerably lower than the previous week-on-week comparison, which showed a 128 per cent increase in the number of people in Worthing ‘pinged’.

There was a similar increase in Arun, where 1,833 people were ‘pinged’ in the week ending July 14, 388 more than in the previous week.

But the numbers fell in the Adur district, with 802 people alerted – 44 fewer than in the week ending July 7 and a 5.2 per cent drop.

Nationally, 607,486 alerts were sent in week ending July 14 – 15.4 per cent of all alerts sent to date, since September, and a record high. To date, 3.94-million alerts have been sent.

The news came two days after figures showed 49 people in Worthing had tested positive for Covid-19 in the latest 24-hour period.

While there was no data for the number of children having to isolate ahead of the summer holidays, since May, more than 3,400 schoolchildren in West Sussex have tested positive for Covid-19.