Covid cases are on the increase again – but should the public be worried?

HEALTH EXPERT ASSESES THE LATEST TOTALS

WITH Covid case numbers on the rise yet again, we asked local health experts how worried do we need to be?

Infections in the county and the city have both shot up in recent weeks, with a 73.4 per cent rise in positive tests in the county in the seven-day period around the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee and an 86.6 per cent rise in the city, according to government data.

The following week saw a smaller rise, taking the most recent figures to 909 cases (127.5 per 100,000 people) in the county in the seven days to Thursday, June 16 – a rise of 36.9 per cent on the previous week.

In the city, there were 374 cases detected – a rate of 105.6 per 100,000 people – in the same time period, a rise of 22.2 per cent.

Fiona Grant, consultant in public health for Leicestershire County Council, asked whether people are right to be worried, said: “It’s difficult to say.

“It could be this is the result of the jubilee celebrations and increased mixing, it could be we’re seeing the impact of that coming through.

“So it could just be a blip and we might see the figures coming back down again.

“So it’s too soon to say if this is a new wave coming through, there isn’t the evidence really to support that at the moment.

“We’re not seeing a particular impact on hospitals at the moment.

“Having said that, as soon as you see an increase in cases, inevitably you start to see an increase in hospital admissions.

“At the moment, there’s no need to panic, but it’s important that people remember Covid hasn’t gone away and with any increase of mixing, we are likely to see an increase in the numbers of cases.”

Two subvariants of the Omicron strain of the virus, BA.4 and BA.5, have also been detected in certain areas of the country.

The strains were designated “variants of concern” in the UK on May 20.

It is thought BA.4 and BA.5 could have a degree of “immune escape”, meaning the immune system can no longer recognise or fight a virus. They are also thought to be more infectious than other variants.

“We are seeing an increase in these new subvariants, BA.4 and BA.5, across the country,” Ms Grant said.

“We’re not particularly seeing that locally yet, but we should be aware they are starting to appear across the country and they do appear to be more infectious than some of the other more recent variants we’ve been dealing with.”

There has also been a call for the return of free testing to allow a more accurate picture of where the country is in its fight against Covid.

Ms Grant believes it is too early to take that step.

She said: “Although we’re seeing an increase in the rates, we’re not seeing it back at the level it was previously, which would justify that testing.

“So at the moment it would not seem quite the right time to do that yet. It would depend on if we continue to see an increase in the rates and the impact that might have on the services.

“At the moment, we’re not quite in that situation. But we need to remain vigilant and it’s something that may need to be brought back in at a later stage.”

The message to residents remains the same: get your vaccine and boosters; follow the hygiene measures set out at the start of the pandemic; try to keep your distance from others; consider wearing a mask in crowded indoor spaces and isolate if you have symptoms or a positive test.

“All those measures we talked about before are still relevant now,” Ms Grant said.

“It’s still here, it’s still with us very much.”