Supermarkets could be the most commonplace COVID-19 is spread in the UK, new data suggests.
The weekly surveillance report from Public Health England shows almost 20 percent of the 128,800 cases they studied had visited supermarkets in the week before they contracted the virus.
Sixteen other locations were also considered including schools, care homes and hospitals - but supermarkets came out on top.
Under England's current lockdown conditions, supermarkets are the only shops allowed to stay open. Stores have strict COVID-19 containment measures in place including hand sanitisers, regular cleaning and limited shoppers allowed in at once.
Chief executive of the British Retail Consortium Helen Dickinson says it's "misleading and irresponsible" to suggest supermarkets are a source of transmission.
"Supermarkets are one of the very few places that people can visit during lockdown so it is unsurprising that they feature strongly when people are asked where they have visited," she told The Daily Mail.
Of the 128,800 cases considered, 34,300 had at least one common exposure with another case of COVID-19.
