More than 1,000 test positive at weekend

RECORDED - CITY

MORE than 1,000 people have tested positive for coronavirus this weekend across Leicester and Leicestershire.

The city recorded its highest ever number of cases yesterday - 250 - in addition to 170 reported on Saturday.

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has released the latest numbers of people with Covid-19.

They show that Charnwood has had 187 new virus cases over the weekend and there were 104 in Hinckley and Bosworth and 101 in Blaby.

There were 94 cases in North West Leicester over Saturday and Sunday and Oadby and Wigston has accumulated another 64 positive tests.

There were 56 new cases in Harborough and 36 in Melton borough.

The new cases, updated yesterday at 4pm, mean that the total number of cases across the city and county since the start of the pandemic area by area are: Leicester: 12,539

Blaby: 2,016 Charnwood: 4,443 Harborough: 1,313 Hinckley and Bosworth: 1,699 Melton: 686

North West Leicestershire: 1,352

Oadby and Wigston: 1,615

The latest figures come after public health officials in Leicester revealed they would be spending the next four weeks of national lockdown using tactics honed in the summer during the

UK’s first local lockdown to try to drive down the number of infections in the city.

Leicester City Council aims to push down infection rates to a level that allows it to exit the national lock down into at least Tier 2 restrictions, if not Tier 1.

The latest seven-day infection rates, area by area, are:

Leicester: 414.4 cases per 100,000 Blaby: 292.2 cases per 100,000 Charnwood: 368.6 cases per 100,000 Harborough: 189.8 cases per 100,000 Hinckley and Bosworth: 199.9 cases per 100,000

Melton: 242.1 cases per 100,000

North West Leicestershire: 257.7 cases per 100,000

Oadby and Wigston: 343.8 cases per

100,000

City council consultant in public health Rob Howard said last week: “We have seen it increase in young people, then working age, and then into over 60s, which is the problem.”

He said that was starting to translate into higher hospital admissions putting extra pressure on the NHS as Covid patients joined those who would normally create a winter beds crisis anyway.

The Mercury uses the gov.uk daily dashboard to track and report local cases and rates.