Missing UK Covid cases blunder ‘should never have happened’, says Hancock

England’s missing coronavirus cases should never have happened, the health secretary has admitted.

He was forced to appear in front of Parliament again, amid the scramble to find close contacts of those who tested positive – but were never registered as such.

As of this morning, just over half of them have been reached.

Labour called it worse than a shambles, saying lives had been put at risk – while one council leader where cases are soaring branded it a “catastrophic failure”.

Across the UK, 12,594 new coronavirus cases have been confirmed in the last 24 hours. And 19 further deaths were recorded – taking the total to 42,369.