A record high number of people in Brighton and Hove were ‘pinged’ by the Covid app during the first week of July.

The latest data showed a record high number of people in Brighton and Hove were pinged during the first week of the month

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The number of people in Brighton and Hove who were ‘pinged’ by the Covid app increased by 1,243 in a week.

NHS figures show 4,334 people were alerted via the app in the seven days to June 30. It was 5,577 in the seven days to July 7 – a 28.7 per cent increase.

The figures, which show the number of 'close contact' alerts sent to users of the NHS Covid app, placed Brighton and Hove as the 11th highest local authority area out of 336 for alerts in the week ending July 7. It also said the figures for the week ending July 7 was a record high since the app was launched in September.

In the seven days up to July 9 in Brighton and Hove, there were 1,270 confirmed new Covid-19 cases in Brighton & Hove, a four per cent increase on the previous week and equivalent to a weekly rate of 436.6 per 100,000 residents. That’s higher than the South East rate of 242.1 per 100,000 and the England rate of 341.5 per 100,000.

Last week, the Government deployed an enhanced support package to Brighton and Hove amid the ‘significant rise’ in covid cases.At Prime Minister’s Questions on July 7, Labour leader Keir Starmer warned that large numbers of people could soon be asked to self-isolate, with major consequences for businesses.

He said: “How many people will be asked to self-isolate if there are 100,000 cases a day?”

Elsewhere in Sussex, there was an increase of more than 128 per cent in Worthing, with 1,238 people ‘pinged’ in the seven days to July 7. The number was 541 the previous week.

In Adur, 443 people were alerted via the app in the seven days to June 30. It was 845 in the seven days to July 7 – a 90.7 per cent increase.

Today (July 19) most of the lockdown restrictions were lifted in England. Read more: Boris Johnson urges caution as most lockdown restrictions in England are lifted | Brighton & Hove Independent (brightonandhoveindependent.co.uk)It was also revealed that: Fully jabbed NHS staff could be spared from isolation rules to avoid ‘pingdemic’ | Brighton & Hove Independent (brightonandhoveindependent.co.uk)