One in seven in the West Midlands has had coronavirus
ONE in seven people in the West Midlands has had coronavirus, new figures show.
This is slightly more than the national average. Across England as a whole, around one in eight people have had the virus.
Data from the Office for National Statistics shows that 14.3 per cent of people in the West Midlands tested positive for antibodies to Covid-19 in December 2020. This suggests they have been infected with the virus at some point in the past.
Yorkshire and the Humber has the highest rate of infection. There, 16.8 per cent of people tested positive, around one in six people.
The analysis is based on blood test results taken from a randomly selected subsample of people aged 16 years and over in each region.
Separate data published by the ONS last week showed that roughly one in 600 people living in the West Midlands between March and December last year died of Covid.
The death rate where Covid was the underlying cause of death was 167.5 per 100,000 in the region.
So far, more than four million people nationwide have received their first dose of Covid-19 vaccine.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock said: “We’re on track to deliver our plan to vaccinate the most vulnerable groups by the middle of
February, the groups that account for 88 per cent of Covid deaths.”
Letters have been sent to those aged 70 and over, and the clinically extremely vulnerable, inviting them to get their vaccinations as the NHS begins roll out to the next two priority groups. But in a sign of the challenges facing the vaccination programme, it was reported up to a fifth of staff in some care home groups have refused a coronavirus vaccine when offered. More than 447,000 people have so far been vaccinated in the Midlands, figures showed last week.
■■NHS case numbers up: Page 6