Extra help to meet Covid surge

VALLEY residents have been given new guidance as Lancashire was declared a Covid ‘enhanced response area’ by the government.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock made a brief announcement on the subject in the Commons on Tuesday.

The news comes as the valley now has the third-highest coronavirus rates in the country as cases in the North West continue to rise.

Each of the areas with the highest infection rates in the country can now be found in the North West, with six of them being found in Lancashire.

Rossendale, comes in at third behind Blackburn with Darwen and Bolton, despite cases falling in the latest round of figures.

Rossendale cases are down from 319.0 per 100,000 to 288.2, with 206 new cases.

The move for enhanced status was requested by the county council’s director of public health, Dr. Sakthi Karunanithi.

Support will be offered to drive vaccine uptake in cohorts which are already eligible - as of today, that is the over-25s, except where younger people fall into another eligibility category such as particular vulnerability to Covid or living within someone at heightened risk from the virus.

Details have been sent to local authority leaders of what enhanced area status entails.

There will be no ban on travel between different corners of the county, but Lancashire residents will be advised to “minimise travel in and out of affected areas” under new guidance.

The package for enhanced area status will also provide:

●● A rapid response team deployed to support local authorities to plan and coordinate their ground campaign and the ability to request Military Aid to the Civil Aviation Authority.

●● Drive vaccine uptake across eligible cohorts by upweighting resources for operational delivery of the vaccine programme.

●● Local authorities can approach their police force, Health and Safety Executive and other enforcement agencies to seek support in compliance and enforcement as necessary.

●● Subject to agreement, designate a Vaccines Champion to ensure all available resources from the vaccines programme are harnessed to support access and uptake in local areas, linking this surge activity to the community engagement on testing.

●● Specialist communications support to support increased awareness and focused engagement with disadvantaged groups.

●● Supervised in-school testing.

●● Wastewater testing samples.

●● Advising people in these areas to take particular caution when meeting others outside of their household or support bubble and to minimise travel in and out of affected areas.

●● Allow local directors of public health to recommend additional control measures in educational settings.

●● Supporting spot checks to ensure workplaces are Covid safe.