PLEA FOR EXTRA CASH TO TACKLE COVID – AS INFECTIONS DOUBLE
‘Misplaced’ figures lead to cases soaring
COUNCIL leaders have again written to government requesting more funding and powers to tackle Covid-19 – with the local infection rate doubling in just a few days.
Cheshire East saw its seven-day infection rate increase from 56 cases per 100,000 population on Friday to 113 per 100,000 on Monday – partly due to the addition of positive tests which had previously been ‘misplaced’.
This means more than one in 1,000 Cheshire East residents tested positive for the virus in just a week. One part of the borough bordering North Staffordshire – Hightown, Mossley and Timbersbrook in Congleton – has now seen 30 cases in seven days.
Last week, the borough was placed on the government’s coronavirus watchlist as an ‘area of concern’, due to the rising number of cases.
The leaders of Cheshire East Council have now joined with their counterparts at Cheshire West and Chester and Warrington to write to Health Secretary Matt Hancock to ask for extra resources and measures to deal with Covid-19.
They say they have produced a ‘detailed document’ explaining what the councils believe needs to be done over the next six months to bring infection rates down.
Proposed measures include extra testing and contact tracing, support for care homes and businesses, and public education. The councils also want more funding to help them maintain essential local services during a second wave of the virus.
Sam Corcoran, leader of Cheshire East Council said: “We are trying to work with government to avoid the need for additional restrictions to be imposed on us. “We have repeatedly tried to avoid lockdown and further restrictions and we have focused our request on measures that, we believe, will put us in the best position to tackle Covid-19 without resorting to a blanket lockdown.”
Over the weekend almost 16,000 additional cases of Covid-19 were added to England’s total after previously being misplaced – reportedly due to a mistake with an Excel spreadsheet.
As a result of this many areas, such as Cheshire East, saw a jump in their weekly infection rates. Between Friday and Monday, Stoke-on-trent’s seven-day rate increased from 42 to 61 cases per 100,000, while Newcastle’s went from 53 to 90.
But Mr Corcoran said that Cheshire East was clearly experiencing an upward trend in infections.
He said: “These data errors are unhelpful, but should not be allowed to obscure the clear message that the infection rate in Cheshire East is rising sharply, and therefore action is required. The sooner we act the easier it will be to bring the outbreak under control.”
Last night a further 166 cases of Covid-19 were confirmed across The Sentinel’s circulation area. There have been 29 more coronavirus cases confirmed in Stoke-on-trent, with 2,238 cases now confirmed in the city since the start of the pandemic.
Across the rest of Staffordshire the total has risen to 5,833 - an increase of 137 from yesterday’s figure. Of those new cases, 35 were in Newcastle-under-lyme Borough, 15 in the Staffordshire Moorlands and 18 in Stafford Borough. Another 106 cases have been confirmed across Cheshire East - bringing the total of 3,458. And one new death has been reported at the University Hospitals of North Midlands according to the latest update from NHS England this afternoon.