Concern raised as coronavirus cases continue to increase in Birmingham
A health chief has said the next couple of days could be "crucial" in keeping coronavirus cases in Birmingham under control amid an increase.
Dr Justin Varney, public health chief at Birmingham City Council, said the case rate in Birmingham has "stagnated", with the percentage of positive tests rising.
The latest Public Health England figures show the seven-day case rate in the city increased to 29,4 cases per 100,000 people for the week ending Saturday, having been at 24.3 during the previous week.
And Dr Varney says this rise has raised his concerns, adding that the next few days will tell whether Birmingham goes the same way as Leicester, which introduced a local lockdown earlier this year.
Over in Sandwell the rate has also increased, from 21 cases per 100,000 residents to 27.7, with several cases linked to the pharmacy department of Asda in Smethwick.
Latest infection rates in region:
The list is based on Public Health England data published on September 1 on the Government’s coronavirus online dashboard.
Data for the most recent three days (August 30-September 1) has been excluded as it is incomplete and likely to be revised.
From left to right, the list reads: name of local authority; rate of new cases in the seven days to August 29; number (in brackets) of new cases recorded in the seven days to August 29; rate of new cases in the seven days to August 22; number (in brackets) of new cases recorded in the seven days to August 22.
Birmingham 29.4 (336), 24.3 (278)
Sandwell 27.7 (91), 21.0 (69)
Wolverhampton 12.5 (33), 16.7 (44)
Walsall 8.8 (25), 14.0 (40)
Dudley 8.4 (27), 6.5 (21)
Wyre Forest 7.9 (8), 4.9 (5)
Shropshire 7.7 (25), 7.1 (23)
Stafford 5.1 (7), 5.1 (7)
Telford and Wrekin 3.3 (6), 11.7 (21)
South Staffordshire 1.8 (2), 5.3 (6)
Cannock Chase 1.0 (1), 7.9 (8)
"At the moment the case rate has stagnated a bit, and we’re not falling in the way that I would have hoped, and this is of concern,” Dr Varney said.
"You’ll be aware that we went on to the national watchlist two weeks ago now, and we have become an area of enhanced support. The percentage of tests that are positive has risen over the last couple of days, and that raises my concern.
"We do have a significant outbreak at the moment which is being managed, and that may be having an impact on the rate, though we have worked it out with and without those cases.
More Covid-19 coverage:
"Testing uptake remains stable but unfortunately is not going up in the same way that it is in other parts of the city, and that also raises concern about where things are going. And as you’ll be aware the council has started to use section 3 enforcement notices to take action against premises which are failing to keep their staff and their clients or customers safe from Covid.
"So we’ve got an upshot of the current numbers. The most recent data is Aug 29. As you can see testing has fallen slightly – it does fluctuate on a week on week basis and day by day, but we’ve fallen slightly down from 994 on the 23rd to 904. And we’ve moved down from ninth in the region to 11th. So I really hope that the new testing sites that are opening up will move that up.
"We were coming down quite nicely but things have stalled, and it will depend over the next couple of days whether we are now on an upward climb in the way that Leicester did, or whether this is a little blip and then we’ll start to come down again in the way that some parts of the North West have done.
"And as I said, the rolling rate follows that pattern. And just to show you this as a diagram, the blue line is our seven day rolling case rate and the red line is the level we absolutely need to get below to be considered off the national watchlist.
"And we were doing quite well, and then as you can see we’ve kind of had a blip. And the question is is it a blip or are we now starting to go back up again. And that will depend on what happens over the next couple of days."
