Coronavirus: Official NI virus figures still not online three days after cock-up saw the webpage pulled

This evening, the government webpage which is supposed to provide detailed breakdowns and charts about coronavirus in Northern Ireland was still not working, three days after it was taken off the internet.
By Adam Kula
Published 23rd Apr 2020, 19:05 BST
Updated 23rd Apr 2020, 20:55 BST
A selection of complaints on Twitter about the defunct 'dashboard'A selection of complaints on Twitter about the defunct 'dashboard'
A selection of complaints on Twitter about the defunct 'dashboard'

The webpage disappeared on Tuesday evening, shortly after the News Letter queried its contents with the Department of Health.

The department said the webpage had been suspended due to an “error”.

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Whilst a basic overview of the figures is still provided daily by the department, the blunder is believed to leave Northern Ireland as the only nation in the United Kingdom which does not have a service publishing regular, detailed figures about its infection rates online.

Wales, Scotland, and England all have dedicated pages with in-depth figures broken down into local areas.

Meanwhile Northern Ireland’s webpage tonight consists of four words: “This content isn’t available.”

The disappearance of the webpage on Tuesday came at the same time questions were being asked about why only one Covid-19-linked death had been recorded on Sunday, compared with 17 the day before.

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On Wednesday, the department said that the number of Covid-19-related deaths had suddenly jumped to 250, from 216 on Tuesday.

This was due to some fresh deaths, and what the department called “deaths in previous days that have now been added to the official record”.

For almost a month up until Monday, the Public Health Agency’s website had been publishing simple-but-effective daily updates of the official figures in the form of PDF files online containing charts and local breakdowns.

On Monday this week it was replaced by an interactive ‘dashboard’ of figures, which was axed within a day.

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No comment had been received from the department at time of writing.

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Related topics:Northern IrelandUnited KingdomDepartment of HealthWalesScotlandEngland