THE discovery of thousands of "missing" coronavirus test results by Public Health England means Merseyside is in a much worse position than previously believed.

More than 1,000 new cases across the region were found to have been left out of the official figures published daily by the Government due to "a technical issue" discovered on Friday night.

Prior to the weekend, several Merseyside boroughs appeared to be experiencing a significant slowdown in coronavirus infections, giving some hope that new restrictions were working to contain the virus.

However, once the missing cases were included this proved to be false as Merseyside's infection rate leapt to over 300 cases per 100,000 residents.

Previously, the region's infection rate last week was thought to be just over 200.

Two graphs produced by the Local Democracy Reporting Service show the difference the missing cases have made to the regional picture.

Wirral Globe:

Graph showing New Cases Per 100,000 Residents In Past 7 Days up to September 30 including the cases \'missed\' by Public Health England. Produced by Chris 

Wirral Globe:

Graph showing New Cases Per 100,000 Residents In Past 7 Days up to September 28 before the \'missing\' cases were discovered by Public Health England. 

In Liverpool itself, the newly discovered cases meant the city's infection rate rose from less than 300 to 401 cases per 100,000 residents by last Tuesday.

The statistical error also meant that the total number of cases in Liverpool was underestimated by around 100 cases per day.

Neighbouring Knowsley, also one of the worst-hit boroughs in the country, experienced a similar story.

Before the weekend, Knowsley’s infection rate up to September 29 was thought to be 283 cases per 100,000 residents, but in reality it was 374 and has continued to climb to more than 450 since then.

In Wirral, 142 new cases were found to have been missed, while in Sefton 128 cases had been left out of the total.

In Halton, just 54 missing cases were identified, pushing the borough’s infection rate from 223 to 265 cases per 100,000 people.

But the error identified by Public Health England is not just a statistical one.

In addition to underestimating the spread of the virus throughout the region, the missing cases also mean the contacts of more than 1,000 positive coronavirus cases have not been traced as the cases were not uploaded to the NHS Test and Trace system either.

As a result, thousands of people who should be self-isolating have not been told that they were in close contact with a confirmed case of Covid-19 and could themselves have the virus.

In a statement on Sunday, Public Health England’s interim chief executive Michael Brodie said: "A technical issue was identified overnight on Friday 2 October in the data load process that transfers Covid-19 positive lab results into reporting dashboards.

"After rapid investigation, we have identified that 15,841 cases between 25 September and 2 October were not included in the reported daily COVID-19 cases. The majority of these cases occurred in most recent days.

"Every one of these cases received their COVID-19 test result as normal and all those who tested positive who were advised to self-isolate.

"NHS Test and Trace and PHE have worked to quickly resolve the issue and transferred all outstanding cases immediately into the NHS Test and Trace contact tracing system and I would like to thank contact tracing and health protection colleagues for their additional efforts over the weekend.

"We fully understand the concern this may cause and further robust measures have been put in place as a result."

Test and Trace and PHE joint medical advisor Susan Hopkins added: "This issue did not affect people receiving their COVID-19 test results and all people who tested positive have received their Covid-19 test result in the normal way.

"It also does not impact the basis on which decisions about local action were taken last week.

"All outstanding cases were immediately transferred to the contact tracing system by 1am on 3 October and a thorough public health risk assessment was undertaken to ensure outstanding cases were prioritised for contact tracing effectively."