No more deaths but Covid not over and done with yet

SPIKE IN TOWN

NOT HELPED BY TEENS HOLDING ILLEGAL PARTY

IT HAS been 16 days since the last Covid-related death at Leicester’s hospitals, according to official data published yesterday.

NHS England releases a daily update on the number of patients who tested positive for coronavirus before dying.

According to the data, the last coronavirus-related death recorded at either Leicester Royal Infirmary, Leicester General Hospital or Glenfield Hospital was on April 26.

However, despite the success of the vaccination roll-out, the threat of Covid has not yet gone away.

A spike in Market Harborough is believed to have been partly fuelled by an illegal party, while a school in Leicester is dealing with a significant outbreak.

Since the start of the pandemic and UHL’s first death last March, there have been 1,468 patients who have died while being treated by the trust.

The trust was providing a weekly update until recently, as numbers have now started to fall.

At the last update when again, no deaths were recorded, a UHL spokesperson said: “In recent weeks, we have seen a significant decrease in both the number of admissions and deaths while over 4,500 patients have now recovered and are back home after being looked after by our wonderful team.

“This gives us reason to be optimistic, but to ensure that we continue to keep cases low locally, we encourage people to continue to observe the government’s Covid guidance, step up for vaccination when called and use hospital services wisely.”

There were 14 coronavirus-related deaths in April, 68 in March and 215 in February.

January was the trust’s deadliest month, with 329 patients who had tested positive for Covid-19 dying on a city hospital ward.

The message from government and all involved in public health is for people not to drop their guard, but this was not the case in Market Harborough, where an illegal 16th birthday party contributed to a spike in coronavirus cases.

Revellers passing the virus between each other have contributed to the seven-day Covid-19 infection rate in Harborough district, which has leapt from 17.1 cases per 100,000 people to 48 cases per 100,000 people.

Leicestershire County Council’s public health director, Mike Sandys, said the celebration by school friends had pushed up the infection rate locally to well over double the national average.

He said there had been a spike in Harborough in the past week, related to a local school. “But we don’t think it was at school,” he said, “We think it was a 16th birthday party.

“We’ve all done silly things when we were younger. Maybe we just need parents to talk to their kids and help them understand it’s not just all about other people.

“We do know that there have always been issues with younger people and their perceptions of social distancing, partly because some think this is all someone else’s problem, it only affects older people.”

The spike catapulted the district up to 13th out of 315 English council areas in the latest infection rates.

Mr Sandys added: “Harborough, like other areas across the county, has been performing brilliantly over the past few weeks, but we’ve seen a significant spike which has pushed the district into the top 20 nationally.

“It’s still a case of all age groups needing to be very careful, whether it’s young people or adults. If we continue to follow the basic rules then I’m sure we’ll be able to step up the pace of reopening.”

In the city, a primary school is battling with a spike of coronavirus.

Rowlatts Mead Primary Academy has confirmed it has had 14 cases of Covid-19 within the past seven days.

A dozen were pupils and several class bubbles have been sent home to self isolate. Two staff members were also infected.

The 315 -pupil school, in Balderstone Close, Rowlatts Hill, says in all the cases the school activated its usual internal procedures, including identifying everyone who had been in close contact with infected pupils or staff members.

Principal Jay Virk said: “These cases are a reminder to everyone that, although Covid restrictions are starting to ease, we cannot be complacent. To protect our communities and our families, it is still very important that we all follow government guidelines.”