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Almost half of the nearly 16,000 people with coronavirus missed by the Test and Trace system still have not had their contacts traced, the health secretary has admitted.
An “IT failure” within Public Health England – a problem with an Excel spreadsheet reaching its maximum size – has been blamed by ministers for a delay in the reporting of 15,841 COVID-19 cases in England.
Downing Street revealed extra contact tracers had now been drafted in to help track down the contacts of people whose positive tests went unreported between 25 September to 2 October.
Live coverage of the latest coronavirus news and updates

Matt Hancock said the situation was “ongoing” but that the government’s assessment of the pandemic had “not substantially changed”.
The health secretary also told the Commons that just over half – 51% – of the missing cases have been contacted for a second time over the weekend to have their contacts traced, meaning 49% – equal to some 7,762 people – have not.
The government later clarified that Mr Hancock’s “ongoing” comment did not mean some positive cases are still not being counted but that work is continuing to contact those missed.
Meanwhile, a Whitehall investigation has been launched to discover why the missed cases were not identified sooner.
But the prime minister was said to still have full confidence in Baroness Harding, the head of the NHS Test and Trace programme.
He was quizzed about the glitch on Monday, with Labour having accused the government of overseeing a “shambolic” system.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak will speak to Kay Burley live just after 7am tomorrow morning

Data can save lives, data can cost lives – and this latest testing blunder will likely prove it

Mr Johnson did not give an answer when asked how many people weren’t traced, but who should have been, by NHS Test and Trace due to the delay in reporting the infections.
“I can’t give you those figures,” he said.
“What I can say is all those people are obviously being contacted and the key thing is that everybody – whether in this group or generally – should self-isolate.
“That’s the way to make it work.”
The prime minister said a successful use of the NHS Test and Trace scheme should create a “fire break” around an incidence of infection and “helps us fight the virus”.

Breakdown of missing cases

Missing cases
Original figure
Actual total
25 September
957
6,874
7,831
26 September
744
6,042
6,786
27 September
757
5,693
6,450
28 September
0
4,044
4,044
29 September
1,415
7,143
8,558
30 September
3,049
7,108
10,157
01 October
4,133
6,914
11,047
02 October
4,786
6,968
11,754

Referring to the technology error, Mr Johnson claimed that “some of the data got truncated” and “was lost”.
The master Excel spreadsheet reached its maximum capacity so could not keep adding further cases.
Officials said that “rapid mitigation” measures have been put in place to make sure it does not happen again.
Mr Johnson added: “What they have done now is not only contacted all the people who were identified as having the disease – that was done in the first place – but they are now working through all the contacts as well.”
After the prime minister spoke to reporters on a visit to a sustainable power firm in London, Downing Street clarified that those self-isolating at the request of the NHS Test and Trace scheme would receive a one-off payment of £500, rather than the £500 per week that Mr Johnson had said during the visit.
Following the addition of the new COVID-19 cases to England’s figures, the weekly rate of infections has soared in dozens of areas.

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Therese Coffey on 16,000 missed COVID cases

Earlier on Monday, Work and Pensions Secretary Therese Coffey was asked whether others might have been infected with COVID-19 due to the NHS Test and Trace scheme not being aware of the nearly 16,000 cases
“There may well be,” she told Sky News.
“I’ve been made aware that probably the majority of that [contact-tracing] has happened in the latest element of the week, in the last couple of days.
“So it’s important that we act quickly, and PHE is acting quickly, to see whether or not people are required to self-isolate.
“Because I do recognise that not quite everybody going through the regime will be identified by the test and trace regime to undertake that further self-isolation.”

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Labour MP Bridget Phillipson, the shadow chief secretary to the Treasury, accused ministers of overseeing a “shambolic” system.
“Test, trace and isolate just isn’t working,” she told Sky News.
Fellow Labour frontbencher Lucy Powell, the Manchester Central MP and a shadow business minister, said it was “very concerning” that infection rates had been revised upwards in Greater Manchester following the discovery of the computer glitch.
“Local understanding of what lies behind this increase is critical before we see ever more stringent restrictions imposed on us,” she posted on Twitter.
“We’ve already been living under local restrictions longer (over 2 months) than most places.”

After speaking with Health Secretary Matt Hancock on Monday, London mayor Sadiq Khan claimed the test and trace system was “letting London and the country down”.
“Today I spoke to the health secretary, alongside mayors from across the country, and reminded him that a fully functioning test, trace and isolate system is the only way we will get a grip on this virus, prevent a further lockdown and be able to protect our economy,” he said.
Public Health England said on Sunday the people involved all received their test results and those who tested positive were advised to self-isolate.
Joint medical director Dr Susan Hopkins told Sky News: “There’s no delay in people receiving their test results.
“The delays are in reporting to the dashboard and to the public and there’s been a delay in contact tracing initiation.
“Public Health England apologise that this occurred and have put in place steps to prevent this happening again.”

Researchers are looking at whether the common cold could offer some protection against contracting coronavirus.
A recent study at Yale University found that rhinovirus – the most frequent cause of a cold – could jump-start the body’s antiviral defences, providing protection against the flu.

They discovered that the presence of rhinovirus triggered production of the antiviral agent interferon, which is part of the early immune system response to the invasion of pathogens.
Live coverage of the latest coronavirus news and updates

Image: The receptors of the common cold virus attach to the outer protein shell of the virus.
The researchers are now looking at whether introduction of the cold virus before infection by COVID-19 offers a similar type of protection.

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Dr Ellen Foxman, of the Yale School of Medicine, said: “The common cold virus triggers the normal antiviral defences of these cells that form the lining of the airway.

“So the cells that form the lining of the airway is where all these viruses need to go to grow.

More from Covid-19

“That includes flu, common cold, COVID-19 – basically all the viruses that you get by breathing them in, they all grow in this tissue that forms the lining of your airway.”
She added: “This response, the interferon response, which is this general defence mechanism against all viruses, we know that response does work against COVID-19.
“If you do the experiment in a lab, you can apply this chemical – interferon – to cells, then you can block the virus that causes COVID-19 as well.

This is the story of how coronavirus spread around the world

“So it’s possible that we’ll see the same thing, but we’re just beginning to do the experiments.
“Sometimes you see unexpected things happening so you have to just do the experiment and see what the result is and that that’s just a work in progress at the moment.”
Dr Foxman said she thought interferon-based immunity lasted about a week, maybe up to two, adding that it did not prevent infection forever.
But she explained it may provide a “temporary buffer against getting another virus” while the body is all “revved up” to fight it.
However, the expert said while she was sure this could be applied to flu, COVID-19 is unpredictable.
“One unpredictable thing is the entry receptor that COVID-19 uses to get inside your body – there have been some reports that can be increased by interferon.
“So, we just have to test how important is that, compared to having these antiviral defences at the ready, ” Dr Foxman explained.
She said that catching the virus early was key as it is a very short-term defence and contact tracing was a good way to do this.
It could also make people more inclined to participate in contact tracing, if they knew there was an early intervention available, Dr Foxman continued.
However, she stressed that this was all speculation and that the studies still needed to be conducted.

We still don’t know why 15,841 confirmed cases of coronavirus were effectively lost in the English testing system.
The prime minister called it a “computer problem”. Elsewhere it’s been referred to as a “glitch”.

What we do know is that on 24 September something went wrong with the computer system connecting the Lighthouse Laboratories to Public Health England (PHE). Normally, new cases are passed by Test and Trace to PHE, which then add them to the daily totals. But, starting on 24 September, some results didn’t appear.

I’ve seen a copy of a note sent by PHE to directors of public health in the northwest, which contains a table showing how the lost cases built up. On the first day, 957 weren’t filed. On 2 October, the day the problem was discovered, 4,786 cases weren’t added to the system.
That’s almost 5,000 positive cases that weren’t included in the daily national total and – most importantly – weren’t passed to Test and Trace.

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A third of Britons face local lockdowns – what are the measures in your area?

The note contains some important comments on the practical impact of this news. First, it makes clear that this issue does not affect anyone’s results. Everyone who tested positive was informed and asked to self-isolate “in the normal way”.

The note also claims that the problem with the data did not change any local lockdowns, saying it had “no impact on the decisions” that were made at the all-important GOLD meeting which rules on local restrictions. It adds: “If anything, it shows that the virus is in an endemic phase and rising.”

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Whether that is accurate remains to be seen. What is undeniable: the impact of this issue on Test and Trace. None of these positive cases have been contact traced, so Test and Trace is now dealing with a substantial backlog. One contact tracer says they greeted the news with “dread”.
An impact for Test and Trace is actually an impact for everyone. More than 15,000 people have gone untraced at a moment when the virus is spreading fast – and the vast majority of those will now be too late to catch in time. England’s most important defence against the virus was bypassed by an internal error.

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We now know that the coronavirus figures have been drastically underestimated for over a week. The effect of this issue may yet last longer.
I’m told a “serious incident” was declared in Test and Trace yesterday. With so much at stake, serious is definitely the word.

A cargo ship has been launched to the International Space Station with a special food delivery for astronauts.
The American global aerospace company Northrop Grumman launched its capsule from the Virginia Coast on Friday.

It contained a 360-degree camera designed for spacewalking, radish seeds for growing, and an assortment of meats and cheeses for feasting.
The shipment also included pressurised air tanks to help offset a leak at the space station; a new $23m titanium toilet designed for women, and a VR-camera which will provide cinematic shots of spacewalks and other outdoor scenes from space.
The unpiloted 3,600kg delivery is now expected to arrive at its destination on Monday.

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The launch provided beautiful skies for observers from the Carolinas to New England – where skies were clear.

Image: The shipment includes meats and cheeses ready in time for Thanksgiving. Pic: Northrop Grumman/NASA
“It was a spectacular launch,” said NASA’s deputy space station programne manager Kenny Todd.

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“Creating the artificial dawn for a few minutes there, it’s just gorgeous.”
The Cygnus capsule features a range of delicacies requested by the astronauts – including Genoa salami, smoked Gouda and provolone, brie, cherry tomatoes, oranges, pecans and chocolate-covered cranberries – all in time for Thanksgiving on 26 November.
It also contains more fresh food than usual, as the number of people at the space station will increase from six to seven with SpaceX’s second astronaut launch at the end of the month.
The astronauts will have the opportunity to grow their own harvest this year with an addition of radishes.
Researchers are hoping that the 40 seeds sent over will shoot up within a month.
Slightly larger plants like peppers and tomatoes may follow in a few years.
NASA’s new toilet aims to better accommodate women at a time more female astronauts are expected to go to space.

Donald Trump has been given two experimental drugs after testing positive for COVID-19.
White House doctor Sean Conley said the president was given a dose of an antibody drug being developed by Regeneron on Friday before he was taken to a military hospital where he has started remdesivir therapy.

The president appeared upbeat as he landed at the Walter Reed Military Hospital in Maryland on Friday evening despite developing fatigue symptoms and having trouble breathing, according to an adviser.
Sky News looks at what remdesivir and Regeneron’s drug do, and how effective they have been in trials.
Live updates on coronavirus from US, UK and around the world

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Trump: ‘I think I’m doing very well’

What is remdesivir?

A drug that once offered hope in the treatment of Ebola, remdesivir is an antiviral medicine that has not been approved anywhere in the world for any use.

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It is injected into the vein in the hope it will prevent SARS CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) from multiplying in the body, with some patients recovering faster after using it.
Gilead Sciences Inc began research on remdesivir in 2009 as part of studies into hepatitis C and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), a common and highly contagious respiratory virus that most children get before they turn two.

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After scientists in China determined the new pneumonia-like illness was caused by a coronavirus, Gilead provided remdesivir to China to test the drug against the virus.
Remdesivir is thought to interfere with the mechanism that certain viruses use to make copies of themselves, but scientists are still determining how that occurs.
Several clinical trials and laboratory studies have taken place since January, with some promising signs.
However, a report published in The Lancet medical journal on 3 October looking at several studies has found remdesivir “did not appear to affect rates of SARS CoV-2 viral load decline and mortality”.

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Do Americans feel sorry for Trump?

It said using remdesivir early “substantially decreased” viral loads but this effect was “completely lost” when the drug was given just eight hours after infection.
The report concluded that remdesivir “might require initiation before the peak viral replication” but that is “not feasible” in humans as they display symptoms after the virus multiplies.
It added that there is no clinical reason why remdesivir could not be administered before someone shows symptoms.
What is the experimental Regeneron treatment?
Drug maker Regeneron provided a dose of its experimental antibody treatment to the president on Friday before the decision to take him to Walter Reed was made.
Still in large-scale clinical trials, the new antiviral antibody “cocktail” works by binding to a protein on the surface of the virus.
This is meant to stop the virus from attaching to cells and replicating, while allowing the immune system to attack the virus.

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Mr Trump was given a single 8g dose, which should “last for quite a long time”, Regeneron chief executive Dr Leonard Schleifer told CNN.
Last weekend, the drug started being used in “about three hospitals in the north” of England as part of Oxford University’s national recovery trial, Professor Peter Horby told the BBC.
The specialist in emerging infectious diseases at the University of Oxford said the drug is “very promising” and “very potent”.
This class of drugs is “pretty safe and well understood” so is something he has “confidence in”, he said.
He added that about four or five hundred patients have been given it so far and there have been “no worrying safety signals”, with the plan to roll it out to another 30 to 40 UK hospitals next week.

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Prof Horby said a single dose of the treatment provides “prolonged protection” for “a month to six weeks”.
Dr Jeremy Faust, an emergency doctor at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, said he would not give it to his patients because he could not say what the benefit is, or the risks.
He added that giving an unproven treatment to the president “sends a message that they’re scrambling”.

More than half of people who wear disposable face masks to protect against coronavirus are using them multiple times, while those who opt for reusable coverings are not washing them regularly, the government’s top scientific advisers have found.
According to a report by the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE), only one in eight people are washing reusable face coverings correctly, with 34% using them more than four times before they clean them.

While SAGE admits there is no hard evidence showing the effectiveness of washing reusable masks, the documents from 15 September say coronavirus is “readily inactivated by soap and water”.
Regarding disposable masks, the report says those that are binned incorrectly could also pose a risk for those who handle waste, but SAGE suggests that safe handling and good hygiene can mitigate this.
Live updates on coronavirus from US, UK and around world

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The report could prove to be important advice for Britons as face coverings become increasingly widespread, having been made mandatory across indoor spaces such as shops and museums – and on public transport.

Not wearing a face mask in such settings, without a specific exemption, could land repeat offenders with a fine of upwards of £3,200.

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SAGE’s report reiterates the importance of wearing masks to combat COVID-19.
“In most settings, extended duration of wearing is likely to have the greatest influence on reducing transmission risks relating to aerosol transmission; extended duration will reduce close range transmission for those activities that require prolonged close interaction with another person,” it says.
The group adds that there is no evidence that wearing face coverings “significantly impact on normal breathing or oxygen levels, although there are some studies that suggest a small effect during exercise”.

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Actor Paul Rudd says you should wear a mask

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It does suggest, however, that wearing masks could contribute to skin conditions such as acne – although there is no hard data on this and it can be mitigated by good facial hygiene.
Despite the efficacy of masks, SAGE also warns of the risk that they lead to people forgoing other crucial behaviours, notably social distancing.
The documents say that encouraging Britons to wear face coverings in recent months has been used as a measure to allow the two-metre rule to be relaxed in some cases.

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Anti-mask and vaccine protesters rally in London

SAGE’s findings have emerged days after thousands of people gathered in London to protest the wearing of masks, with claims it takes away civil liberties.
Many of those present at such demonstrations have also suggested COVID-19 is a hoax, which it demonstrably is not, while also peddling scientifically impossible conspiracy theories – such as it being caused by 5G masts.
It also comes on the day that one of the world’s most vocal doubters of face masks, US President Donald Trump, revealed that he had tested positive for coronavirus.

The new head of the Secret Intelligence Service has said he will try and persuade some of his Twitter followers to work for MI6.
Richard Moore, formerly the British ambassador to Turkey, was an active Twitter user under his old account – tweeting more than 18,000 times since joining in November 2013.

Tweeting from @ChiefMI6 at the end of his first day in the office, Mr Moore said he was “immensely privileged to lead such talented and committed public servants”.

I plan to keep tweeting, but obviously can neither confirm nor deny how often. I’ll also try to persuade some of you to come and work for #MI6. #Bond or #Smiley need not apply. They’re (splendid) fiction but actually we’re #secretlyjustlikeyou 2/2
— Richard Moore (@ChiefMI6) October 1, 2020

He also told his 93,000 followers that he would “try to persuade some of you come and work for MI6”, although warned that the agency wasn’t looking for candidates inspired by the world of fiction.
Referencing the novels and cinematic depictions from Ian Fleming and John le Carre, he wrote: “Bond or Smiley need not apply. They’re (splendid) fiction but actually we’re secretly just like you.”

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Image: The MI6 headquarters on the River Thames
Mr Moore’s appointment was announced in the summer, when he left his role as the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s political director to succeed Sir Alex Younger as the SIS chief.

He had previously held directorial roles in MI6 and was deputy national security adviser in the Cabinet Office.

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The dominant concerns as he enters office are growing tensions between Russia and the West, particularly following allegations that the Kremlin supported the poisoning of one of its most high-profile critics in Alexei Navalny.
A father-of-two, Mr Moore was born in Libya, speaks fluent Turkish and is a keen golfer who enjoys watching cricket and rugby. His interests are also said to include Turkish carpets and porcelain, and visiting historical sites.

COVID-19 antibodies in blood plasma donations appear to drop within just months of symptoms emerging, a study has warned.
The NHS has been using plasma as a treatment for coronavirus infections, and the number of people receiving donations has quadrupled in the last month.

But the health service says it still needs more donations and is partnering with Facebook to enlist new donors in England, Wales and Northern Ireland ahead of a potential second wave of COVID-19.

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NHS appeals for plasma donors to fight COVID

Having plenty of donors could prove even more vital after the warning from a study in Canada that antibody levels in blood plasma donations do not appear to be long-lasting.
With most viruses, antibodies produced by the immune system to fight off the infection can remain in the plasma for months or potentially even years, according to the American Society of Haematology.

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In the case of COVID-19, convalescent plasma treatment infuses people who are suffering with blood plasma from someone who has already recovered in the hope it will help the new patient fight off the disease.

Dr Renee Bazin, author of the study published in the journal Blood, said: “While many clinical trials are underway to better understand whether convalescent plasma is clinically beneficial for treating COVID-19, a key question is at what time point is it most effective to collect donor plasma based on the presence of antibodies that help fight the virus.

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“Based on our findings, antibodies against the new coronavirus are not eternal.”
The small study was carried out in Quebec, Canada, where Dr Bazin works at the Hema-Quebec blood centre.
It drew from 282 plasma donors who had recovered from COVID-19, and followed 15 adults who were diagnosed with the disease and subsequently recovered from it.
These adults donated their plasma between four and nine times after the infection, with the first donation occurring between 33 and 77 days after the onset of symptoms, and the last donation between 66 and 114 days.
Every participant showed a decrease in antibodies at the same time, around 88 days from the first symptoms.

How coronavirus is spreading around the world

The researchers said the decline appeared to be unrelated to the number of times somebody donated blood, but instead correlates with the time elapsed since the body overcame the virus.
“The antibodies disappear rapidly, so people recovering from COVID-19 who want to donate blood plasma should not wait too long once they become eligible to donate,” said Dr Bazin.
She added that the findings suggest clinicians “should ideally use plasma that is collected early on after a donor’s onset of symptoms and check for the presence of antibodies before giving donor plasma to a patient”.
Plasma donations from COVID-19 survivors are being collected at NHS Blood and Transplant’s 23 donor centres all around the UK, and at five pop-up centres.
London, Greater Manchester and Birmingham are priority areas for donations.

Cyber security analysts tasked with investigating Huawei equipment used in the UK’s telecommunications networks discovered a “nationally significant” vulnerability last year.
Investigators at the UK’s Huawei Cyber Security Evaluation Centre (HCSEC) found an issue so severe that it was withheld from the company, according to an oversight report published on Thursday.

Vulnerabilities are usually software design failures which could allow hostile actors (in particular the Chinese state when it comes to Huawei) to conduct a cyber attack. They are not necessarily intentional and can’t be seen as an indication of any hostile intent on the part of the developers themselves.

Huawei: The company and the security risks explained

There is a hypothetical concern that Beijing could purposefully design some kind of deniable flaw in Huawei’s equipment which it would know how to exploit – or that it could have been alerted to a potential attack vector once the issue was reported to Huawei.
The report explicitly states that the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) – a part of GCHQ – “does not believe that the defects identified are as a result of Chinese state interference”, and adds that there is no evidence the vulnerabilities were exploited.

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Instead, the agency reported that “poor software engineering and cyber security processes lead to security and quality issues, including vulnerabilities” – and that “the increasing number and severity of vulnerabilities discovered” is of particular concern.

“If an attacker has knowledge of these vulnerabilities and sufficient access to exploit them, they may be able to affect the operation of a UK network, in some cases causing it to cease operating correctly,” the report warns.

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“Other impacts could include being able to access user traffic or reconfiguration of the network elements.”
After the major vulnerability was assessed by the UK’s security services then it was reported to Huawei, in line with the HCSEC’s normal vulnerability disclosure process.
The report adds that HCSEC “continues to reveal serious and systematic defects in Huawei’s software engineering and cyber security competence” – and warns that despite fixing specific issues when directed to do so, the agency has “no confidence that Huawei will effectively maintain components within its products”.

Image: NCSC is part of GCHQ, the UK’s cyber and signals intelligence agency
A spokesperson for Huawei said the report highlighted the company’s “commitment to a process that guarantees openness and transparency, and demonstrates HCSEC has been an effective way to mitigate cyber security risks in the UK”.
They stressed the NCSC’s conclusion that the defects were not believed to be a result of malicious interference from the Chinese state, and that the UK’s networks are not more vulnerable than last year.
“As innovators, we continue significant investment to improve our products. The report acknowledges that while our software transformation process is in its infancy, we have made some progress in improving our software engineering capabilities,” said the spokesperson.
“Huawei has faced the highest level of scrutiny for almost 10 years. This rigorous review sets a precedent for cyber security collaboration between the public and private sectors, and has provided valuable insights for the telecoms sector.”
Although similar vulnerabilities for rival companies which provide networking equipment – whether radio antennas or core switches and gateways – are often discovered, the company argues they do not get the same attention.
“We believe this mechanism can benefit the entire industry and Huawei calls for all vendors to be evaluated against an equally robust benchmark, to improve security standards for everyone,” the spokesperson added.

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Trump: ‘We convinced many countries not to use Huawei’

American restrictions on Huawei (stated to be based on security grounds, although the company argued that it has been unfairly hit by the Trump administration’s trade war) will prohibit US technology companies from providing components – such as computer chips – to the company.
As a result of these restrictions, the British government has ordered that all Huawei equipment must be stripped out of the UK’s telecommunication networks by 2027, following NCSC’s recommendation that it could no longer guarantee the security of Huawei’s equipment if it was to adopt chips from less trusted manufacturers.
The US sanctions were criticised as “arbitrary and pernicious” by Huawei, which has confirmed that 40% of the roles within its enterprise business group in the UK are being made redundant as a result.
Speaking to Sky News last week, Matt Warman MP – who has the infrastructure portfolio under the digital secretary – said he did not expect the US to change its approach towards the company even if a new administration was elected come November.
“If I look across the Atlantic, actually this is an issue where – while the language might be different – there is considerable bipartisan support that is in line with the decision we’re taking,” he said.

Astronomers have found six galaxies lying around a supermassive black hole in a cosmic “spider’s web” of gas extending to more than 300 times the size of the Milky Way.
Researchers say it was formed when the universe was less than a billion years old and this is the first time such a close grouping has been seen so soon after the Big Bang.

The finding helps to better understand how supermassive black holes, one of which exists at the centre of our Milky Way, formed and grew to their enormous sizes so quickly.
It also supports the theory that black holes can grow rapidly within large, web-like structures, which contain plenty of gas to fuel them, according to the astronomers.

Image: Another black hole found by the European Southern Observatory. Pic: ESO
Marco Mignoli, an astronomer at the National Institute for Astrophysics (INAF) in Bologna, Italy, and lead author of the study, said: “This research was mainly driven by the desire to understand some of the most challenging astronomical objects – supermassive black holes in the early universe.

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“These are extreme systems and to date we have had no good explanation for their existence.”

The observations were made by the European Southern Observatory’s (ESO) Very Large Telescope (VLT).

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Mr Mignoli added: “The cosmic web filaments are like spider’s web threads.
“The galaxies stand and grow where the filaments cross, and streams of gas – available to fuel both the galaxies and the central supermassive black hole – can flow along the filaments.”
According to the study, published in the Astronomy and Astrophysics journal, the light from this large web-like structure, with its black hole of one billion solar masses, has travelled to Earth from a time when the universe was only 900 million years old.

Image: The Very Large Telescope, or VLT. Pic: ESO
Referring to supermassive black holes, co-author Roberto Gilli, also an astronomer at INAF in Bologna, said: “Our work has placed an important piece in the largely incomplete puzzle that is the formation and growth of such extreme, yet relatively abundant, objects so quickly after the Big Bang.”
It is thought the first black holes, believed to have formed from the collapse of the first stars, must have grown very fast to reach masses of a billion suns within the first 900 million years of the universe’s life.
Astronomers have struggled to explain how sufficiently large amounts of “black hole fuel” could have been available to enable these objects to grow to such enormous sizes in such a short time.
However, they suggest the new-found structure offers a likely explanation – the web-like structure and the galaxies within it contain enough gas to provide the fuel that the central black hole needs to quickly become a supermassive giant.