Western Morning News (Saturday)
Warning to ‘be sensible’ as lockdown rules relaxed
WESTCOUNTRY health chiefs are urging people to ‘be sensible’ as social contact and mixing increases with the easing of coronavirus restrictions.
A Devon Local Outbreak Engagement Board meeting heard that case rates in the county were very low – with infection rates in North Devon hitting a milestone zero – which council leader Cllr John Hart described as ‘very good news’. Tina Henry, assistant director of public health, warned: “The message is to be sensible, as the social distancing guidance still applies.”
WESTCOUNTRY health chiefs are urging people to ‘be sensible’ as social contact and mixing increases as England moves out of lockdown.
The nation moved into step 2 of the Government’s roadmap to the easing of restrictions from Monday, which saw the opening of non-essential retail, personal care premises, gyms, as well as allowing pubs and restaurants to reopen outdoors.
Devon as an upper tier authority level has the second lowest infection rate in England at 7.2/100,000, with only East Sussex having a lower rate, and coronavirus infection rates in North Devon have hit the milestone figure of zero, with no cases in a seven day period. In the seven days between April 3 and 9, there was not a single positive case from the 9,942 tests – from lateral flow and PCR – that were carried out, the first time any district in England recorded that in a seven day period since Torridge in mid-September.
Three positive cases though have subsequently been recorded – one from April 10, 11 and 12 – but as the infection rates cover a seven day period five days in arrears, it means that for one day, North Devon’s infection rate is 0. Across the rest of Devon, in the same seven day period, Torridge (2 cases), West Devon (3), East Devon (8), and South Hams (6) also recorded cases that were in single figures, while infection rates in Exeter and Teignbridge were also below the 10/100,000 mark, with Mid Devon (18.2/100,000) the highest of Devon’s districts.
Thursday’s Team Devon Local Outbreak Engagement Board meeting heard that case rates in Devon were very low, which council leader Cllr John Hart said was ‘very good news’, but the guidance around social disstill tancing and wearing of face coverings where appropriate still needed to be followed. And while the economy has begun to open up and more mixing of households is allowed, it may have an impact on case rates and residents are being urged to be sensible in their actions.
Tina Henry, assistant director of public health, said: “The easing of lockdown will have an impact on people mixing and there may be some changes in cases across the county, but they are very low.
“The message is to be sensible, as the social distancing guidance still applies and that has not changed, and while we are seeing more people out and about and that is a positive thing, mixing indoors is still not allowed and that is an important message to remember.
“We are still getting some outbreaks and some in workplaces, but they are smaller in number and not in care homes. Coronavirus is still out there and it is important to follow the rules and we need to respond rapidly to outbreaks to keep the numbers low. It is important to find the cases, and that they self-isolate, and we understand their contacts and can trace their contacts.”
Simon Chant, public health specialist, added that infection levels were similar to early September and as further restrictions ease they will carefully studying and monitoring the effects and expecting rates to stay at similar level for the next few weeks, but he said that there was no area in Devon where there was anything particular to note at a community level, with a cluster of seven cases in the Crediton area the ‘worst hit’ part of Devon at present.
The meeting also heard from Dr Paul Johnson, clinical chair of the Devon CCG, that vaccine uptake across the county had been more than 90 per cent.
COVID-19 infections across all parts of the UK have fallen to the lowest level since the autumn, new figures suggest.
According to the latest estimates from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), around one in 480 people in private households in England had Covid-19 in the week to April 10 down from one in 340 the previous week.
This is the lowest figure since the week to September 19 2020, when the estimate stood at one in 500.
Meanwhile in Wales, around one in 920 people was estimated to have had coronavirus in the week to April 10 down from one in 800 in the week before and the lowest level since the week to September 10.
In Northern Ireland, the estimate was around one in 710 people, a drop from one in 300 in the previous week and the lowest since estimates began for the nation in October.
The estimate for Scotland was around one in 500, falling from one in 410 and again the lowest since estimates began for the nation in October.
The drop in infection levels across the UK marks a contrast to rising case rates in other parts of the world. World Health Organisation (WHO) director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said coronavirus cases globally were rising at “worrying” rates and highlighted that the number of new cases confirmed per week had nearly doubled during the past two months.
Speaking in Geneva, Switzerland, on Friday, Dr Tedros said the number of new cases “is approaching the highest rate of infection that we have seen so far in the pandemic”.
It comes as Downing Street insisted that the Government’s red list of travel ban countries is “under constant review”, when asked why India did not feature on it.
India has seen soaring Covid-19 rates, with more than 13.9 million confirmed cases and 172,000 deaths recorded.
Downing Street said Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s planned visit to India was still due to go ahead later this month, despite concerns over the discovery of UK cases of a coronavirus variant first detected in the South Asian nation.
Public Health England (PHE) said some 77 cases of the B.1.617 variant have been confirmed in the UK.
Paul Hunter, professor in medicine at the University of East Anglia, said it included two “escape mutations” which “are causing people to be concerned”, but added it was not known for certain what this meant for the effect of a vaccine.
PHE has designated it as “variant under investigation” rather than a “variant of concern” and said there is currently no evidence to suggest it causes more severe disease or that vaccines are less likely to work against it.
Downing Street has also defended the use of rapid lateral flow tests despite reports that officials have raised concerns about their accuracy.
The Guardian reported that it had seen leaked emails which indicated senior officials were considering scaling back extensive asymptomatic testing due to the number of false positives.
Lateral flow tests, which do not need laboratory assessment and can give results in fewer than 30 minutes, form an integral part of the Government’s mass testing efforts.
People in England can have two rapid coronavirus tests per week, with kits available free of charge at approved testing sites, pharmacies and by post.
A No 10 spokesman told reporters: “Lateral flow tests have been rigorously evaluated and we believe that they are both accurate and incredibly useful in terms of being able to spot asymptomatic cases of the virus.
“We know now this can be one in three people and it therefore allows us to identify possible contacts of those people and ultimately helps us to reduce the spread and the transmission of the virus.”
According to the latest Government figures, the coronavirus reproduction number, or R value, in England is between 0.7 and 1. Last week, the figure was between 0.8 and 1. Latest ONS figures showing the percentage of people testing positive for Covid-19 showed that South West England had the lowest estimate: around one in 1,150.