Excel: Why using Microsoft's tool caused Covid-19 results to be lost

The BBC reports that a "badly thought-out use of Microsoft's Excel software was the reason nearly 16,000 coronavirus cases went unreported in England."

Although Excel has been the target of much blame, and even contempt, the issue is much deeper than that.

As two authors from the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) point out, the issue isn't Excel as such, but rather the way that we use Excel:

• Nightmare on spreadsheet: take Excel use seriously
• The greatest spreadsheet error of them all – treating Excel with utter contempt