CORNWALL’S Public Health department was told by the Government that if it publicised full coronavirus positive case figures and their locations it could have its access to the data removed.

The number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in each county has been routinely under-reported since the start of the pandemic.

Public Health England (PHE) yesterday began reporting confirmed cases in a new way: within the figures for local authorities, it is now publishing both the Pillar 1 results (those tests done in NHS hospitals and at PHE centres) and Pillar 2 results (those done by commercial partners, including the results from mobile centres and posted tests).

These new figures show that Cornwall’s number of confirmed cases now stands at 882, rather than the 594 reported previously.

Public Health officials at Cornwall Council were only given access to the full data as of June 24.

In a statement released earlier this week Cornwall Council said: ’Like other local authorities across the country we’ve been frustrated by the lack of transparency in the way localised Covid-19 data is released by the government – this is a complex, ever-evolving situation and having accurate, up-to-date information is vital if we are to continue keeping our residents safe and minimise the spread of the virus.

’Unfortunately there are a number of discrepancies with the pillar two testing figures supplied to us by Public Health England, and our public health team is in the process of verifying this information in order to accurately reflect what we know about cases of Covid-19 in Cornwall.

’We are not permitted to share the data without Public Health England’s permission, and any breach of that agreement would risk PHE withdrawing their data provision, which would inevitably have serious implications for our population as a whole and our ability to respond to the pandemic. We hope to have an agreement in place with PHE soon which will allow us to do so.

’The discrepancies in the data have not in any way hindered our ability to produce our Local Outbreak Management Plan or our response to the pandemic. Our number one priority is the health and wellbeing of our residents, and we will continue use all data available to us to support our health and care system.’

But Lostwithiel Cornwall Councillor Colin Martin, who is vice chair of Cornwall’s Health and Social Care Overview and Scrutiny Committee, said that by restricting the data made available, the Government had made it difficult for health leaders in the county to respond to local outbreaks.

He said: ’As of two weeks ago the director of public health in Cornwall was shown positive cases data that shows that South East Cornwall had a three times higher rate of infections than other parts of Cornwall.’

Cllr Martin would like Cornwall Council and public health officials to be able to set up their own testing system to ensure that it is prepared should there be a further outbreak.

’I would like to see Cornwall set up its own testing and tracing service,’ he said.

’We have the capacity in the hospital to test our own health and care staff. We should open that up to anyone in Cornwall to be tested in our local system.

’We will have the contact information that we need from people so that we can follow up with others if they test positive.

’In that way we could have tests done and have the results by the end of the day and then immediately start following up with contacts.’

The Department of Health said that the Government is committed to publishing data on test results in due course to ensure it is accessible to the public. Directors of public health do have access to data, it said.

It added that ’the priority has always been to ensure that public health bodies, such as Public Health England (PHE), have the data they need. PHE then share relevant data with their locally based health protection teams, who work with local councils and directors of public health’.

The department said that positive test data, including postcodes, was provided to local councils and directors of public health from June 24.

A Government spokesperson said: ’The Government’s priority is to protect the public and save lives. We have been working closely with our local partners, providing them with the resources and tools they need to take swift action to deal with any new spikes in infections.’