Covid alert as town is put in top 20 hotspots
COUNCIL bosses have urged residents to stay vigilant to the threat of coronavirus after a leaked report revealed the borough is one of 20 areas in England that are considered vulnerable to a second widescale outbreak.
The Guardian and The Observer reported over the weekend that a government report had placed Rochdale sixth on a list of the top 20 council territories based on seven and 14 day moving averages of the number of positive tests for the virus per 100,000 residents.
The report showed the seven day average to July 4 for daily incidence per 100,000 residents was 4.0 in Rochdale, compared to 16.3 in Leicester, where a local lockdown has been enforced.
The data flags the borough as one of six areas of ‘concern’, but shows it is not yet at a level of requiring ‘enhanced support’, as in Kirklees, Bradford and Sheffield, nor an ‘intervention’, as in Leicester, which has been subjected to the country’s first ‘local lockdown’ in recent weeks after its number of cases spiked.
The borough is one of three amber zones for their ‘daily exceedance’ of the mean figures, with five including Leicester classified as red zones.
The document was reported to have said that ‘these areas are currently under investigation by the local public health protection teams’, and added that the areas listed are ‘associated with workplace outbreaks which have contributed to the increase in infection rates’.
It comes after it was revealed that a mobile testing unit had been set up at Rochdale’s JD Sports warehouse last weekend (July 4 and 5) to test employees after a small number of employees were confirmed to have the virus.
Steve Rumbelow, the council’s chief executive, said that while it was important residents understood that the borough’s numbers of positive tests are nowhere near those seen in Leicester, everyone needs to remain aware of the risks still posed by the virus.
He said: “The threat of coronavirus is still very real, which is why it is vital that everyone keeps following the guidance and doing what they can to prevent the spread of the disease. This will also help us stop lockdown measures being brought back to our borough, which nobody wants.
“The advice includes staying at home as much as possible, limiting contact with other people, keeping your distance and washing your hands regularly.
“We must stress that we are some way off seeing the numbers that we have seen in Leicester but we are monitoring the situation very closely.
“It’s also important to point out that cases have risen as the number of tests being carried out in Rochdale has increased, and we are confident that we are testing more than a lot of other areas.
“We intend to expand our testing capacity even further because that is an important way of keeping this under control.”