London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Sep 25, 2025

UK faces possible hospitality shutdown, yet contact-tracing app has only alerted Britons to one public venue Covid outbreak

UK faces possible hospitality shutdown, yet contact-tracing app has only alerted Britons to one public venue Covid outbreak

Critics have hit out at the UK government as it mulls hospitality closures, based on research collected at only 98 pubs. Meanwhile, the UK's contact-tracing app has sent just one Covid outbreak alert from a venue.

Boris Johnson's government has come under fire as it has emerged that London's Covid strategy is informed by limited research; the government only collected data from 98 of the country's 48,000 pubs.

Speaking on LBC Radio on Friday, Business Minister Nadhim Zahawi contended that the data reflected "pretty robust sampling" adding, "I used to work in the serving industry, and I can tell you when you do business surveys, 98 businesses, or 100 businesses, is actually quite a representative sample."

The comments come in relation to a briefing delivered by Chief Medical Officer, Chris Witty, on Thursday, which suggests that more than 30% of coronavirus transmissions take place in pubs, bars, restaurants and cafes. 149 MPs from afflicted areas were shown the data which has now emerged online.


Zahawi claimed that no decision has been made yet as the government mulls fresh lockdown measures. New restrictions, similar to those in Scotland where all hospitality has been shut down for two weeks across the populated central belt, are likely to be introduced in the coming days as the Covid-19 second wave gathers pace, primarily across the north of England. The minister assured that any new restrictions would be accompanied by government support for businesses and individuals.

Meanwhile the government's contact-tracing app has only sent one Covid alert to users warning of an outbreak at a venue. The app's code does not allow the venue to be named, as such alerted Britons were told "We are letting you know that you may have been exposed to coronavirus when you were out."

This has led critics to suggest that pubs, bars and restaurants are not behind the rising Covid cases. Shadow digital minister Chi Onwurah said: "On the one hand, at a government briefing on local data I'm told pubs are the primary location for common COVID exposure, on the other that the contact-tracing app has only sent out one alert about an outbreak in a venue."

The app has been downloaded 16 million times, just under one quarter of the population.

The UK reported a record 17,540 new Covid cases on Thursday as the country arrives at a "perilous moment", as termed by the Health Secretary. Northern cities such as Liverpool, Manchester and Newcastle are amongst the worst hit and ICU admissions are climbing in some parts of the country.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
Lilly CEO Warns UK Is ‘Worst Country in Europe’ for Drug Prices, Pulls Back Investment
Nigel Farage Emerges as Central Force in British Politics with Reform UK Surge
Disney Reinstates ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ after Six-Day Suspension over Charlie Kirk Comments
U.S. Prosecutors Move to Break Up Google’s Advertising Monopoly
Nvidia Pledges Up to $100 Billion Investment in OpenAI to Power Massive AI Data Center Build-Out
U.S. Signals ‘Large and Forceful’ Support for Argentina Amid Market Turmoil
Nvidia and Abu Dhabi’s TII Launch First AI-&-Robotics Lab in the Middle East
Vietnam Faces Up to $25 Billion Export Loss as U.S. Tariffs Bite
Europe Signals Stronger Support for Taiwan at Major Taipei Defence Show
Indonesia Court Upholds Military Law Amid Concerns Over Expanded Civilian Role
Larry Ellison, Michael Dell and Rupert Murdoch Join Trump-Backed Bid to Take Over TikTok
Trump and Musk Reunite Publicly for First Time Since Fallout at Kirk Memorial
Vietnam Closes 86 Million Untouched Bank Accounts Over Biometric ID Rules
Explosive Email Shows Sarah Ferguson Begged Forgiveness from Jeffrey Epstein After Taking His Money
Corrupt UK Politician Ed Davey Demands Elon Musk’s Arrest for Supporting Democracy
UK, Canada, and Australia Officially Recognise Palestine in Historic Shift
Alibaba Debuts Open-Source Deep Research Agent with Benchmarks Rivaling OpenAI
Marcos Faces Legacy-Defining Crisis as Flood Projects Scandal Sparks Massive Tide of Protests
China’s Micro-Drama Boom Turns Stalled Real Estate Projects into Lavish Film Sets
New Eye Drops Show Promise in Replacing Reading Glasses for Presbyopia
'Company Got 5,189 H-1B Visas, Then Laid Off 16,000 Americans': US Defends New $100,000 H-1B Visa Fee
Golf legend tells Omar she should be 'sent back to Somalia' after her Kirk comments
EU Set to Bar Big Tech from New Financial Data Access Scheme
China Bans Livestreaming and AI in Religion Amid Crackdown on Shaolin Temple Scandal
Documents Reveal Mandelson Failed to Declare Epstein-Funded Flights as MP in 2003
Dubai Property Boom Shows Strain as Flippers Get Buyer’s Remorse
Harris Memoir Sparks Backlash from Democrats for Blunt Critiques in ‘107 Days’
Germany Weighs Excluding France from Key European Fighter Jet Programme
Cyberattack Disrupts Check-in and Boarding Systems at Major European Airports
Japan’s ‘Death-Tainted’ Homes Gain Appeal as Prices Soar in Tokyo
Massive Attack Withdraws from Spotify Over Daniel Ek’s €600M Defence-AI Investment
Björn Borg Breaks Silence: Memoir Reveals Addiction, Shame and Cancer Battle
When Extremism Hijacks Idealism: How the Baader-Meinhof Gang Emerged and Fell
Top AI Researchers Are Heading Back to China as U.S. Struggles to Keep Pace
JWST Data Brings TRAPPIST-1e Closer to Earth-Like Habitability
Trump Orders Third Lethal Strike on Drug-Trafficking Vessel as U.S. Expands Maritime Counter-Narcotics Operations
Trump Orders $100,000 Fee on H-1B Visas and Launches ‘Gold Card’ Immigration Pathway
Why Google Search Is Fading and AI Is Taking Its Place
UAE-US Stargate Project Poised to Make Abu Dhabi a Global AI Powerhouse
Federal Judge Dismisses Trump’s Fifteen-Billion-Dollar Suit Against New York Times, Orders Refile
×