Next few days crucial as Covid cases rise
THE next few of days could be crucial in keeping the number of coronavirus cases in Birmingham under control, the city’s Public Health Chief has claimed, as positive tests in the city begin to rise.
Dr Justin Varney revealed that the percentage of positive tests was rising.
The seven-day case rate in the city has risen to 27.9 per 100,000 for the week ending August 29, having been at 22.1 during the previous week, while there has also been a ‘‘significant outbreak’’ over the past few days.
And Dr Varney said this rise has ‘‘raised’’ his concerns, adding that the next few days will tell whether Birmingham goes the same way as Leicester, which introduced a local lockdown earlier this year.
“At the moment the case rate has stagnated a bit, but we’re not falling in the way that I would have hoped, and this is of concern,” he said.
“You’ll be aware that we went on to the national watchlist two weeks ago now, and we have become an area of enhanced support.
The percentage of tests that are positive has risen over the last couple of days, and that raises my concern.
“We do have a significant outbreak at the moment which is being managed, and that may be having an impact on the rate, though we have worked it out with and without those cases.
“Testing uptake remains stable but unfortunately is not going up in the same way that it is in other parts of the city, and that also raises concern about where things are going. And as you’ll be aware the council has started to use section 3 enforcement notices to take action against premises which are failing to keep their staff and their clients or customers safe from Covid.
“So we’ve got an upshot of the current numbers. We were coming down quite nicely but things have stalled, and it will depend over the next couple of days whether we are now on an upward climb in the way that Leicester was, or whether this is a little blip and then we’ll start to come down again in the way that some parts of the North-west have done.
‘‘We were doing quite well, and then we’ve had a blip. And the question is is it a blip or are we now starting to go back up again? That will depend on what happens over the next couple of days.”