Covid app venue check-ins plummet by more than 25,000 in Sunderland since restrictions eased in July

Since the easing of almost all Covid-19 restrictions across England and Wales, the amount of people in Sunderland using the NHS track and trace app to check-in at venues has plummeted.

Mandatory check-ins for pubs, restaurants and other venues were dropped in England on July 19 and despite it no longer being legally required, venues are “strongly encouraged” to ask customers to check in to help control the virus.

Sunderland as seen a huge decline from the week ending July 21, in which 27,148 check-ins were made via the app across Wearside.

In just the seven day period after restrictions easing, check-ins fell to 8,835 for the week ending July 28 and continued to decline right throughout August.

The latest figures for the week ending September 1 show that just 1,799 check-ins were made via the app in venues across the city – a difference of 25,349 since July 21.

That means that Sunderland has seen a 93.4% drop in the amount of check-ins since restrictions were eased on July 19.

As a result, Sunderland is the 27th highest local authority area in England and Wales for the biggest drop since July.

For August alone, the app saw a 70.7% drop in usage at venues – putting Wearside as the fifth highest place in England and Wales for the month.

It appears that the decline in check-ins is the trend across the North East, with Newcastle seeing a drop of 36,931 since July, which equates to a decline of 93.6%.

A drop of 12,286 has been recorded in South Tyneside and in Hartlepool, there has been 7,390 less check-ins since restrictions eased.

Across the North East, Newcastle has seen the biggest drop, followed by Sunderland in second and Gateshead in third.

North Tyneside and South Tyneside complete the top five areas with the biggest drop in check-ins respectively.

Nationally, more than one million fewer people checked into venues using the NHS Covid app in August across England and Wales.

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