Fife coronavirus surge 'due to software glitch'

Fife is now showing fewer positive tests day-to-day.

An update on cases in Fife shows total positive cases is now 871, up from 836 yesterday.

It is an increase of 35 cases in just a day, which appeared to show that Fife had as many cases in one night as it had in the previous 25 days.

However, today’s Scottish Government statistics release also reveals that across the whole of Scotland there are 53 new confirmed cases of covid19, of which 40 are historical tests.

NHS Fife has now released a statement saying that the historic cases should have been reported earlier but had not because of a computer glitch.

Director of Public Health, Dona Milne, said: “In recent days NHS Fife identified a discrepancy during a period in late May where positive lab reports for covid19 cases in NHS Fife did not reach Health Protection Scotland in order that they were included in the daily Scottish Government Coronavirus figures.

“This lag in data reporting was due to a software issue that has since been resolved; resulting in some cases that were not included in the Scottish Government figures for Fife over the period.

“These cases have now been added to the Scottish figures.

“It is important to provide assurance that all positive test results were, however, captured on NHS Fife’s local reporting system.

“Critically, this ensured that all positive cases in Fife were followed up and contact traced in-line with current Scottish Government Guidelines.”

In Fife hospitals, there are currently 60 known cases.

There are five people currently in intensive care.

A total of 116,848 people in Scotland have been tested. Of these, 15,471 were positive.

181 people are now known to have died from the virus.

66 of those occurred in care homes, with 15 at home, and 100 in hospitals.

The latest death statistics cover the week between May 18 and May 24.