Figures could help to show how areas are linked to virus

sop Town and South in Worksop were the worst-hit areas with 65 cases.

Public Health directors have been addressing this by giving residents good access for testing.

Jonathon Gribbon, director of Public Health for Nottinghamshire said: “We can see that across the county, we have lower rates than across England, which is really good news.

“But in Ashfield, we can see it’s about the same as the average for England and in Bassetlaw it is just edging ahead - this is really important information. We can now start to explore if this is just a general issue in Bassetlaw, or if this is down to more specific areas.

“We made a mobile testing unit in Worksop to ensure there was no obstacle for someone to get a test promptly and in the early feedback, we can see there have been 300 tests between Monday and Wednesday, with results expected in several days.”

Alison Challenger, director of Public Health for Nottingham said: “We know we had peaks in April and May, so it is speculation why figures (in Beechdale, Clifton and Wollaton Park) are high - we [haven’t had] the postcode data all along.

“There could be some relationship with the fact that Beechdale and Clifton have a higher proportion of older people and care homes which could put the figure up.

“We know there is a disparity in our communities especially with older people, vulnerability or deprivation and BAME communities. We are learning from these reports as we go along, so we do take it all into account.

“Now we can look at the profile of what we know about these areas and see what can link them, or if there are any circumstances behind it. By bringing in all the knowledge, we start to build a picture.”

The figures are achieved by looking at Middle Super Output Areas (MSOA). These are census-based locations that are used for statistics in small areas - larger than electoral wards but smaller than districts.