• Privacy policy
  • T&C’s
  • FAQ
  • Meet the Team
  • About The London Economic
  • Advertise
TLE ONLINE SHOP!
NEWSLETTER
SUPPORT THE LONDON ECONOMIC
  • TLE
  • News
  • Politics
  • Opinion
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Entertainment
  • Film
  • Food
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Travel
  • Tech/Auto
No Result
View All Result
The London Economic
  • TLE
  • News
  • Politics
  • Opinion
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Entertainment
  • Film
  • Food
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Travel
  • Tech/Auto
No Result
View All Result
The London Economic
No Result
View All Result
Home Politics

Shock and despair follow revelations that ‘world-beating’ Test and Trace system is being run on Excel

"Next they'll tell us it's run on Windows 95 and they manually back it up on floppy disks each night."

Jack Peat by Jack Peat
October 5, 2020
in Politics

News that Britain’s ‘world-beating’ Test and Trace system is being run on Excel has been met with shock and despair today.

The weekly rate of new Covid-19 cases soared in dozens of areas of England, following the addition of nearly 16,000 cases that went unreported by because of a technical error with the spreadsheet.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson was unable to say on Monday morning how many contacts of positive coronavirus cases had been missed, but it is likely to be a significant amount.

The issue occurred when people who tested positive were not recorded once a master Excel spreadsheet reached its maximum size – 16,384 columns, aka “XFD”.

RelatedPosts

Public owed ‘full and frank’ explanation over top mandarin’s Greensill links

Member of Government lobbying watchdog operates his own lobbying service

Falling apart: How the Conservative and ‘Unionist’ Party accelerated the UK’s decline

Johnson wants to be “a unifier who no longer divides for electoral gain”

Public Health England (PHE) said the technical issue resulted in 15,841 cases between September 25 and October 2 being left out of the reported daily coronavirus cases.

Reaction has been less than complementary of the government. We’ve picked out some of the best below:

March:
“world beating test track and trace”

October:
“Does anybody know how to add columns in excel?” https://t.co/aAZucXR7l4

— James Felton (@JimMFelton) October 5, 2020

The 'world beating' Serco Test and Trace system is being run on Excel instead of database software – which has caused the latest issues.

Next they'll tell us it's run on Windows 95 and they manually back it up on floppy disks each night.

— Dr Rosena Allin-Khan (@DrRosena) October 5, 2020

Yes, but it was a world-beating excel spreadsheet. https://t.co/B2AVPbg3RC

— Brian Moore (@brianmoore666) October 5, 2020

When I first heard that cases were missing I thought “can’t be an Excel problem, the rows run out at 1,048,576 which is bigger than even total cases”.

I never thought they’d have a case per COLUMN. Unbelievable. And yes: Excel columns end at 16,384 aka “XFD”. https://t.co/To9b4qIuzD

— Matt Parker (@standupmaths) October 5, 2020

The thing I still cannot remotely understand is why Excel was anywhere near the UK testing system in the first place. It's spreadsheet software, not database software – it should not have been within 100 miles of a system developed in 2020.

— James Ball (@jamesrbuk) October 5, 2020

Related: Trump drive-by dubbed “insanity” by Walter Reed physician

Since you are here

Since you are here, we wanted to ask for your help.

Journalism in Britain is under threat. The government is becoming increasingly authoritarian and our media is run by a handful of billionaires, most of whom reside overseas and all of them have strong political allegiances and financial motivations.

Our mission is to hold the powerful to account. It is vital that free media is allowed to exist to expose hypocrisy, corruption, wrongdoing and abuse of power. But we can't do it without you.

If you can afford to contribute a small donation to the site it will help us to continue our work in the best interests of the public. We only ask you to donate what you can afford, with an option to cancel your subscription at any point.

To donate or subscribe to The London Economic, click here.

The TLE shop is also now open, with all profits going to supporting our work.

The shop can be found here.

You can also SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER .

Support fearless, free, investigative journalism Support fearless, free, investigative journalism Support fearless, free, investigative journalism

Subscribe to our Newsletter

View our  Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions

Trending fromTLE

  • All
  • trending

What If We Got Rid Of Prisons?

Stress, fear and homelessness: The threat looming over families confronted with eviction

File photo dated 07/11/03 of a prison cell.

The Other Prison Pandemic

Latest from TLE

How To Make: Rump Steak Burgers

How To Make: Rump Steak Burgers

Public owed ‘full and frank’ explanation over top mandarin’s Greensill links

Member of Government lobbying watchdog operates his own lobbying service

Falling apart: How the Conservative and ‘Unionist’ Party accelerated the UK’s decline

About Us

TheLondonEconomic.com – Open, accessible and accountable news, sport, culture and lifestyle.

Read more

Address

The London Economic Newspaper Limited t/a TLE
Company number 09221879
International House,
24 Holborn Viaduct,
London EC1A 2BN,
United Kingdom

Contact

Editorial enquiries, please contact: jack@thelondoneconomic.com

Commercial enquiries, please contact: advertise@thelondoneconomic.com

SUPPORT

We do not charge or put articles behind a paywall. If you can, please show your appreciation for our free content by donating whatever you think is fair to help keep TLE growing and support real, independent, investigative journalism.

DONATE & SUPPORT

© 2019 thelondoneconomic.com - TLE, International House, 24 Holborn Viaduct, London EC1A 2BN. All Rights Reserved.




No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
  • Politics
  • Opinion
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Entertainment
  • Film
  • Lifestyle
  • Food
  • Property
  • Travel
  • Tech & Auto
  • About The London Economic
  • Meet the Team
  • Privacy policy

© 2019 thelondoneconomic.com - TLE, International House, 24 Holborn Viaduct, London EC1A 2BN. All Rights Reserved.