Number of positive Covid tests in England rises by 43% in week | Coronavirus outbreak

A total of 9,864 new people tested positive for Covid-19 in England in the week to 2 September, according to the latest test-and-trace figures.

This is an increase of 43% in positive cases on the previous week, and is the highest weekly number since test and trace was launched at the end of May.

The figures also show that 61.9% of people who were tested for Covid-19 in England over the same period at a regional site or mobile testing unit – a so-called “in-person” test – received their result within 24 hours. This is up from 53.3% in the previous week, but down from 63.4% in the week to 12 August.

Boris Johnson had pledged that, by the end of June, the results of all in-person tests would be back within 24 hours.

He told the House of Commons on 3 June he would get “all tests turned around within 24 hours by the end of June, except for difficulties with postal tests or insuperable problems like that”.

More details soon …