How does the Hull Covid-19 infection rate compare to other places?
DATA TRACKS HOW MANY PEOPLE TESTED POSITIVE
WITH coronavirus continuing to claim lives, new data has revealed just how Hull and the East Riding’s infection rate stacks up to the rest of the UK.
In East Yorkshire, the Covid-19 death toll stands at 203, but the rate at which people are losing their lives has significantly dropped since the peak of the pandemic back in April.
More than 3,000 people have tested positive for the deadly virus according to NHS England figures which were updated recently to also include Pillar 2 cases - and they show a recent spike for Hull.
The Government’s daily figures had revealed just how many patients had been found to have the disease in the nation’s hospitals.
However, Pillar 2 data that has started being added recently has revealed a fuller picture of the severity of the situation, as it also includes tests carried out at home and at drive-through test centres.
This addition helped the Government to decide upon the second lockdown of Leicester and will also help to build a better picture of other areas that might need similar interventions until a vaccine is found.
A new graph, compiled by a University of Hull statistician, has now revealed just how Hull and the East Riding compares to Leicester and other UK towns and cities in terms of Covid-19 infection rate.
Explaining the addition of Pillar 2 testing and the affect it has had on coronavirus case figures, Dr Michael Nolan said: “In the early weeks of the outbreak, there was no Pillar 2 testing, and the number of Covid19 tests conducted per day was relatively limited.
“Across the country, by the start of May, the number of positive test cases per day from Pillar 2 was starting to overtake Pillar 1, but no data for a local breakdown of Pillar 2 cases was being made available.
“This meant that previous charts that compared local authorities based on publicly available data could only show infection rates based on Pillar 1 positive tests.”
Dr Nolan used official Government figures, which now includes Pillar 1 and 2 data, to show the true picture of Hull’s cases.
It revealed that the city underwent a spike in cases just three weeks ago when more than 30 people in every 100,000 were testing positive daily.
There was also a slight increase in cases in the East Riding around the same time.
By contrast, Leicester’s infection rate hit almost 160 cases per day towards the end of June - stark evidence that the city needed to be put on lockdown once again.
The huge spike, higher than any data for Hull at any point of the pandemic, revealed the serious situation in the Midlands city.
“The inclusion of Pillar 2 data alongside Pillar 1 data certainly shows a more dramatic peak in the rate of positive cases for Hull. Fortunately, Hull’s rate of positive cases has largely trended downwards during June,” he said.
“The situation in Leicester - which has recently been the subject of specific restrictions - can be seen in stark contrast during June, with a steep increase being very evident.
“It does seem unfortunate that this version of the data was not made available routinely throughout the crisis, since the rise in the rate of positive cases in Leicester looks like it would have been becoming obvious to all observers in the first half of June.”