Walsall Covid cases fall in a week as testing ramped up over South African variant
Covid case rates in Walsall have fallen in the last week as testing of thousands of residents is stepped up following the detection of a South African variant.
Latest figures showed Walsall’s seven day rate was at 515 per 100,000 people – a reduction of more than 30 per cent from the week before when the rate was at more than 800.
Members of the scrutiny overview committee were also told the total number of cases currently present in Walsall was currently at 1,287, at a meeting on Tuesday.
Councillor Stephen Craddock, portfolio holder for health and wellbeing, told the meeting there had been two care home linked outbreaks with eight positives at Pelsall Hall and six at Little Aston Care Home in Aldridge.
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He also said surge testing following the detection of a case of the South African variant in the WS2 area of the borough was being ramped up.
Forest Arts Centre in Hawbush Road, Leamore, and Walsall College have been set up as testing sites this week and are open for people aged over 18 in affected areas between 10am and 3pm.
Door-to-door testing, which will involve packs being dropped off to every house, will begin later this week.
There is no evidence the South African strain will have a more severe impact on health or that the vaccines cannot protect against it, but it is believed it is more transmissible.
Results
A special meeting of the town’s Local Outbreak Engagement Board has been called to discuss this development on Thursday.
Councillor Craddock said: “We now have a case of the South African variant in the community. The person was tested at the end of December.
“They were told to isolate and test and trace followed up on their contacts at that time.
“Around 10 per cent of all positive tests are sequenced and the results take about five to six weeks to come through and we were informed of this on Thursday last week.
“The surge testing programme was agreed by Government and we have been working around the clock since then to set up the programme to test around 10,000 residents in the WS2 area.
“We’ve got two testing sites dedicated to this programme at Forest Arts and Walsall College. They are open seven days a week from 10am to 3pm.
“And they are there for asymptomatic testing of WS2 residents. In addition, we’ve got a dedicated team of volunteers, Covid champions and council staff who will start knocking on every door in the area to get a test done.
“These tests are PCR tests which are identical to the tests we’ve been doing for some time. The only difference is these tests will be prioritised in the system.
“Anyone testing positive will be asked to isolate and we will be doing some enhanced track and tracing to identify all of their contacts if possible.
“The positive tests will all be sequenced to see what the variant actually is. The tests were taking five to six weeks but we expect the results to take around seven days as we are prioritising them.
“The tests are for anyone over 18 that lives and works in the WS2 area but would also include those who are bubbled with someone in the area and are meeting them regularly.
“The national lockdown rules apply to everyone in the country. There aren’t any different rules for those in the affected area.”
