THURROCK is one of eight local authorities across England that were given incomplete information about Covid test data by the government's Test and Trace system.

However, the latest figures show that the borough is well below the average number of cases per 100,000 residents across the country.

In the week ending 17 May there were just six cases per 100,000 in Thurrock, half the England national average.

That equated to 11 cases in the week, down nine on the previous seven day.

In total in Thurrock - up to yesterday (21 May) there have been 17,943 cases of infection in the borough and there have been 489 Covid-related deaths.

The BBC reported that there had been failures in a number of the Test and Trace systems and it has been confirmed that for three weeks in April and May, eight local authorities in England did not have access to the full data on positive tests in their area.

This included Thurrock Council.

The government said a Track and Trace "software issue" had affected a "handful" of places, but this had been resolved "as quickly as possible".

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said: "NHS Test and Trace has contacted over ten million people since the start of the pandemic, and this has had a significant impact, breaking chains of transmission and reducing the spread of the virus.

"Over the past month, we have contacted more than 150,000 people to tell them to self-isolate.

"Due to a software issue, there was a delay in tracing contacts of a number of cases. This only affected a handful of local authorities and the issue was resolved as quickly as possible."

A Thurrock Council spokesperson said: "We became aware that there may have been some missing data. We immediately contacted DHSC and have been working with them to resolve the issue and get the information required."