Slight rise in Covid cases as variant detected in Dales... but no patients in hospitals
THE number of new coronavirus cases has crept up very slightly in the Derbyshire Dales, with one new Indian variant case detected – but the overall figures are still exceptionally low.
No new cases have been published in either of the Ashbourne wards, meaning both areas are below the data threshold of three cases, the point at which the Government stops reporting to protect individual identities.
And across the district the rolling rate - measured per 100,000 population - has risen to 11.1 after six new cases were recorded in the last seven days. Last week it had dropped to 4.4.
The only area showing data in the district is the Darley Dale and Stanton ward, which saw three new cases in the last measurable week, up to Monday.
Last week an outbreak in Long Eaton had sent Derbyshire’s figures soaring, but the number of new cases in the area has dropped off sharply and Derbyshire’s rolling rate has now fallen back down to 14.3.
The only other county in the East Midlands with a lower rolling rate is Leicestershire, with 12.9 cases per 100,000 population.
There is also good news to be found in the area’s hospitals, as there are currently no Covid-19 patients in Derbyshire hospitals and just one in Burton, down from a peak of more than 700 in January.
The Indian variant of the virus is picking up in parts of the country but there is not yet a sign of any impact on Covid-19 hospital inpatient levels, which have now dropped to lows not seen since last summer.
In January, there were more than 700 Covid-19 patients in beds at Queen’s, Royal Derby Hospital and Chesterfield Royal Hospital. At times there have been dozens of patients in intensive care beds for weeks - and some for months - at a time.
The increase in cases of the Indian variant of Covid across the UK has sparked a spike in hospital inpatients in some areas, for example in Bolton and Blackburn, which have seen the most new cases of the virus which originated in India.
This has not shown in the Derbyshire and Burton area, while there has, to date, been one case of the new strain identified in Long Eaton, one in the Derbyshire Dales, and 14 cases in the Glossopdale area of the High Peak.
This time last week there were five Covid-19 patients in Derbyshire and Burton, with four in Royal Derby and one at Queen’s. One patient with the virus was receiving ICU care at Queen’s.
In mid-january, there had been 388 Covid-19 patients at Royal Derby; in early February there had been 151 patients with the virus at Queen’s; and in late January there had been 196 Covid patients at Chesterfield Royal.
Now two out of the three are no longer treating any Covid-19 patients and Queen’s staff are only treating one.
This is a level unseen in the area since last summer when Covid inpatient levels dropped to zero for weeks at a time.
Meanwhile, local health leaders are still racing ahead in rolling out the accelerated vaccine programme, in response to the threat from the Indian variant.
Dr Penny Blackwell, of Hannage Brook Medical Centre in Wirksworth, one of the GPS overseeing the South Dales roll-out, said on Sunday that 32 and 33-year-olds should be jabbed this week, and the next focus is bringing the gaps between two doses down from 11 weeks to eight weeks.
She said, on the surgery’s Facebook page: “We’ve been asked to continue through cohort 11 [30-39-year-olds] to try and reach those who haven’t booked at a mass-vaccination site.
“And then, more importantly at the moment for us, is we need to make sure we’ve got capacity to bring the gap forward between first and second doses for cohorts one to nine, so that’s the over 50s, from 12 weeks to nearer to eight weeks, as quick as we can.
“We’ll be concentrating on that over the next few weeks.”
Dr Blackwell has also explained that the Pfizer vaccine can now be kept stable at fridge temperature for up to a month which, she says, will give local GPS more choice in what they can offer.