Covid positivity rate in Stoke-on-trent drops to lowest level since September
The high level of testing hailed as key factor as cases fall, but Phil Corrigan reveals the city’s sevenday infection rate is still higher than the national and regional averages
FEWER than one in 40 Covid-19 tests in Stoke-on-trent are now coming back positive, as the latest wave of infections continues to decline.
The city currently has a positivity rate of 2.3 per cent, after hitting a peak of 15.2 per cent during the second wave in early January.
Public health officials have been aiming to keep positivity rates in the low single figures, as rates in excess of 10 per cent can mean that a significant number of cases are going undetected.
Stoke-on-trent’s positivity rate – the lowest recorded since September – comes as the level of testing in the city remains high.
In the seven days up to March 26, a total of 7,715 PCR swab tests were carried out in Stoke-on-trent – the positivity rate does not take into account lateral flow tests for asymptomatic people.
But Stoke-on-trent’s infection rate is still higher than most other areas of the country.
The city has a seven-day case rate of 82.3 per 100,000, compared to 54.9 across England, and 62.2 in the West Midlands.
While Stoke-on-trent’s rate has been heading in a downwards direction since the start of January, the rate of decline has stalled in recent days.
City council leader, Abi Brown, right, believes Stoke-ontrent’s relatively high level of testing has been a key factor in driving down infections, and hopes that the downward trend will continue.
She said: “We are continuing to see the number of cases of Covid-19 fall in the community. “Stoke-on-trent still has one of the highest rates of testing in the country, and that has helped bring our positivity rate down to around 2.5.
“But we would still like to see our infection rates fall even further, and so we are still urging people to get tested regularly.
“I think there are various reasons why the case rate in Stoke-on-trent is higher than average. But we’ve seen other parts of the country
which are seeing increasing infection rates.
“Corby, for example, has a rate of more than 200 per 100,000.”
Covid infection rates remain lower elsewhere in North Staffordshire.
Newcastle’s seven-day case rate has fallen to 46.4 per 100,000, while in the Staffordshire Moorlands it is now just 35.6.