Covid case rate falls to lowest since September
Hopes growing in virus battle as jab rollout continues
THE weekly number of Covid-19 cases is at its lowest since September in the clearest sign yet that Northern Ireland is turning the tide on coronavirus.
According to yesterday’s official figures, there were 1,016 new cases recorded over the previous seven days.
The last time figures were this low was six months ago.
The news came after the opening of the SSE Arena as a mass vaccination centre on a day hailed for its “hope and optimism” by politicians.
THE seven-day case rate for Covid-19 is the lowest it has been since September in the clearest sign yet that Northern Ireland is winning the war against the virus.
According to Department of Health figures, there have been 1,016 new cases recorded over the last seven days. The last time figures were this low was six months ago, on September 20 last year.
The situation in care homes — described by health officials as the frontline in the fight against Covid-19 — has also drastically improved.
There were only six active outbreaks at care homes yesterday, compared to 138 care home outbreaks two months ago when Northern Ireland was in the grips of the most deadly surge yet, while the Department of Health has recorded six Covid-19 related deaths in the past seven days, with no deaths recorded on four of the last seven days.
Professor Helen Dolk, a professor of epidemiology and health services research at the Ulster University and a member of the Independent Scientific Advocacy Group, said Covid-19 can be successfully brought under control if officials put in place a number of measures.
“What we want to do now is to get the rest of the population vaccinated while driving the virus down and keeping the variants out,” she said.
“It is, of course, of concern that the downward trend in case numbers has somewhat levelled off, as it needs to be much lower for test and trace measures to be able to keep a lid on transmission.
“However, there are plenty of tools left in the toolkit, so it is a matter of having the will and resources to use them really effectively.
“For example, asymptomatic testing is available for workplaces, we can institute high ventilation standards and inspections, and compliance with isolation requirements for cases and close contacts can be improved if we put in place proper financial and social support.”
It comes as family doctors have been told there are adequate supplies of the Covid-19 vaccine to ensure everyone in Northern Ireland will receive their second dose on schedule.
Dr Alan Stout, chair of the British Medical Association’s GP committee in Northern Ireland, said they have received reassurances from the Department of Health on the matter, as it emerged the over-40 age cohort will be invited to attend for vaccination in the coming weeks.
Dr Stout said GPS are now concentrating on ensuring patients who have already had their first vaccine receive a second dose by the 12-week deadline.
“The uptake of the second vaccine has been phenomenal. I think patients are very aware that this is a course and it’s necessary to have the second dose to get the best protection possible,” said Dr Stout.
“Giving out the second dose to our patients is very much our priority at the moment and we have spoken to the Department of Health about supply and they are very confident there will be enough vaccine for patients to get their second dose on time.
“The Moderna vaccine is going to be coming online in the next few weeks so that will boost the programme even more. All in all, it’s looking very positive.”
According to the latest Department of Health figures, 130,995 health and social care workers have received their first dose and of these, 69,496 have had a second dose.
Second doses are also being rolled out to patients aged over 80 and people who are clinically extremely vulnerable.
To date, 70,888 people aged 80 and over have received a first dose and 26,031 have had a second dose, while more than 5% of the 46,765 people who have had a first dose have now had a second dose of the vaccine.
Meanwhile, England’s chief medical officer Professor Chris Whitty said there were two risks for the UK from rising cases in Europe and elsewhere — the chance of importing cases and the “much bigger” concern of variants which might reduce the impact of the vaccines.
He told a Downing Street Press conference: “Are we concerned about what’s happening in Europe and elsewhere?
“Anybody would be concerned about any country in the world where rates are going up because that has a big impact on people’s health and lives. As citizens of the world, we would all be concerned about any of those countries.”
In the long term there would be ways of dealing with the problems posed by variants but “in the short term that is the principal thing that’s driving concerns about border issues at this stage”.
At the same time, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has also warned of further Covid-19 deaths in spite of the success of the vaccination programme to date: “That wave is still rising across the channel and it’s inevitable, as we advance on this road map, that there will be more infections and unavoidably more hospitalisations, and sadly more deaths.”