South West leads as Covid cases fall
RATES of coronavirus infection are down to pre-Christmas levels in the South West, as all four nations of the UK record major falls in case numbers.
The figures, which have been calculated by the PA news agency from health agency data, suggest the lockdowns currently in place across the UK are continuing to have an impact in driving down the number of new reported cases of coronavirus.
South West England continues to have the lowest regional rate in England: 146.5, down week-on-week from 200.0. The rate has not been this low since December 20.
Local rates are down in each area except two: Torbay, up from 146.8 to 160.0; and Mid Devon, up from 115.4 to 127.6.
Bournemouth, Christchurch & Poole is currently recording the biggest week-on-week drop, down from 453.8 to 304.0.
At last night’s Downing Street press briefing, Health Secretary Matt Hancock said that, with around 91% of all over-80s and 93% of eligible care home residents having had a coronavirus vaccine, the NHS was moving on to vaccinate the over-70s. He said anyone over 70 who had not been called for a vaccination should get in touch with the NHS online, or via their GP to organise a booking.
Both Mr Hancock and the country’s Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Jonathan VanTam, reassured people that the dominant variant in the UK, the ‘Kent variant’, was being controlled by the current vaccines being administered, and added that stories warning that the AstraZeneca vaccine was less effective against the South African variant should not alarm people.
THE NHS trust responsible for organising Plymouth’s mass vaccination centre has issued an apology after hundreds of people were left queuing in the cold for long periods to get their Covid-19 jab.
The huge queue, which formed at Home Park throughout the morning yesterday, was compared to match day-style crowds, with some reporting their wait time to have been 90 minutes or more.
Staff at University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust confirmed they are “looking into” what happened at the mass vaccination centre in Plymouth.
University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust, which operates from Derriford Hospital in the north of the city, has apologised to anyone who had to queue at the centre.
The trust said there were staff at Home Park going through the queue to identify the more frail amongst the patients and bringing them to the front.
And to prevent any repeat of yesterday’s queue size, the trust is asking people to either wait in the car, or arrive no earlier than 15 minutes prior to their allotted time.
Even as hundreds of elderly patients were forced to wait outside in bone-chilling temperatures, there were lots of words of appreciation and thanks, the trust said.
A University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust spokesperson said: “We apologise to anyone who had to queue at Home Park today.
“We have deployed more staff to vaccinate and whilst the queue is constantly moving we have staff going through the queue identifying people who are more frail and bringing them to the front.
“We are also offering an alternative venue to suitable patients.
“We are working very hard to reduce the queue and ask that anyone with an appointment waits in their car, or arrives no earlier than 15 minutes before their appointment time.
“We are looking into what happened today. We know that some people turned up earlier than their appointment times and perhaps with it being cold, they didn’t want
We ask that anyone with an appointment waits in their car, or arrives no earlier than 15 minutes before their appointment NHS TRUST SPOKESPERSON
to wait in cars and wanted to get into the centre instead.
“Our aim is to get as many vaccinated as safely and quickly as possible and we would like to thank the thousands of people who are turning up to get vaccinated.
“We are sorry for the wait. Our staff are working hard to make their experience as smooth as it possibly can be and, even today when people had to wait, we have had lots of words of appreciation and thanks.”
But some people did speak of their frustrations with having endure lengthy waits in the bitter weather.
An elderly mum who travelled with her daughter from Looe for her Covid jab in Plymouth was forced to wait more than an hour-and-a-half before getting her vaccination.
Hilary Wright, 73, was taken to the centre by her daughter Karen Hurrell where the pair live in Looe, more than half an hour away.
The daughter says that sadly she had recently lost her father, and they’d already had “enough disruption” without her mum having to wait in the cold.
Karen says her mum’s appointment was due at 10.10 am, but “fit and healthy” Hilary had to wait oneand-a-half hours outside the stadium.
Despite some being annoyed about the large queue, one man contacted The Herald to praise the job of those working at the vaccination centre. He stated it was a “very small price to pay” for protection from the virus.
“Yes there is a long queue, but these people are working very hard to get as many done a day as possible,” Terry said. “Very small price to pay for protection. Always someone ready to complain.”
Two Covid-related deaths were reported throughout Devon and Cornwall within the last 24 hours, both in Torbay.
South West England continues to have the lowest regional infection rate in England: 146.5, down weekon-week from 200.0.
Boris Johnson and Government scientists mounted a staunch defence of the Oxford/AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine, amid concerns it may be less effective against the South African variant.
The Prime Minister said he was “very confident” in the vaccines being used in the UK, while England’s deputy chief medical officer Jonathan Van-Tam played down the prospect of the South African mutation becoming the dominant strain.
He said the mutation did not appear to have a “transmissibility advantage” over the variant first identified in Kent, which has spread across the UK, and was therefore unlikely to “overrun” it.
Professor Van-Tam stressed that it was important to take a jab if offered it now, to protect against the “clear and present danger” posed by the virus currently circulating in the UK, rather than wait for an updated vaccine that might be more effective against the South African variant which is only present in small numbers.
Some 12,294,006 people had received a first dose of vaccine up to February 7, a rise of 278,988 on the previous day.
A further 333 people were reported to have died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid19 as of Monday, bringing the UK total by that measure to 112,798.
As of 9am Monday there had been a further 14,104 lab-confirmed cases of coronavirus in the UK.