The ‘hotspots’ where infections are low

NEW cases of Covid-19 are hitting fewer than one in 400 people in any of the country’s top ten virus hotspots, figures reveal.

As experts urged those in virus hotspots not to over- react, the most recently available weekly figures for Bolton – which has been topping the list – show that there were 696 new cases reported.

But as the town has a population of 287,000, the new infections represent less than a quarter of one per cent – or one person in 413.

Mortality figures for Bolton in the same period – the week up to last Tuesday – show that two people died as a result of Covid, compared with 37 people from other causes.

The same pattern is clear in the other hotspots, all of them in the North West or North East, with only fourth-placed Liverpool and tenth-placed Pendle recording any Covid-related deaths, at one each. In Liverpool, 61 people died from other causes.

Liverpool also had the highest figure for new Covid cases (1,132) in the hotspot top ten, but given its much larger population, that represented only 0.227 per cent of its residents, or one in 440.

Cancer specialist Professor Karol Sikora said it was important that the public, including those living in hotspots, did not over-react.

‘ In Spain, currently the worstaffected country in Europe where the infection rate is higher than these hotspots in the UK, the rate is about 320 people per 100,000, which is less than a third of one per cent – a very small number.

‘And then of course the number of those infected who are likely to die is far smaller again, so you have to keep things in perspective.’ With cancer and heart and circulatory diseases accounting for more than 335,000 deaths a year, Prof Sikora added: ‘ There are much bigger killers out there than Covid-19. If we had figures for cancer and heart disease deaths being shown on the news every day, people might see this all a little more clearly.

‘ Those conditions need to be treated when they occur and that’s really a problem, so patients will suffer more because of the delays in access to treatment which are building up because of the pandemic.’

Prof Sikora argued that the return to some kind of lockdown risked l osing public support for t he Government policy, which he said was already faltering,

‘All the time I see people getting more and more fed up with the restrictions, and I imagine that’s even more t he case in t hese hotspot areas.’

He added: ‘If I were in charge of this, I’d be much more liberal – I’d shield those who are known t o be vulnerable: t he el derly and those with other underlying health problems.

‘ Then, for the vast majority, we need to slowly liberate people, not enforce a tighter lockdown.’