Gateshead top ten rate
NATIONWIDE, Gateshead is now the local authority with the tenth highest rate in the country. There were 92 cases in the local authority area over seven days.
Middlesbrough and South Tyneside were last week both on the official Public Health England watchlist, classed as “areas of concern”. It meant that they were taking targeted actions to try to stop the spread of the virus, such as additional testing in care homes and increased community engagement with high risk groups.
It also meant that they were potential candidates for local lockdowns if the situation worsened.
The latest figures suggest Gateshead could soon join them on the watchlist, which is usually published on Friday.
Gateshead MP Ian Mearns last week spoke in the House of Commons to say local officials had told him that Gateshead had run out of coronavirus tests. Responding to the latest figures, he said: “The capacity for testing has been diverted elsewhere.
“Our positive test numbers are going in the wrong direction, yet we haven’t got the capacity locally to make public health interventions to prevent things getting worse.
“The Government need to act urgently to make sure that testing capacity is returned to the places that have significant concerns.”
The North East is not alone in seeing a surge in coronavirus cases. The inflection rate in Bolton has more than doubled in one week and cases in Birmingham are up by threequarters.
There is some positive news, in that the death rate remains low. It’s believed that the increase is largely down to more younger people becoming infected, and – while there have been exceptions – they are statistically less likely to die of Covid-19 unless they already have a serious health condition. However, experts and the Government say that unless the increase is stopped, it will spread to other parts of the population including older people, who are more at risk.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s spokesman told journalists: “The rise in the number of cases is concerning and we are seeing it predominantly among young people. Generally a rise in cases among younger people leads to a rise across the population as a whole. That’s why it’s so important that people maintain social distancing.”