Signs of Covid cases levelling off although infection rate still high

During the week up to Wednesday January 12, more than a 1,000 new cases a day were identified using PCR tests.

The community transmission rate in Blackpool rose to 2,531 per 100,000 people, up from 2,015 the previous week.Fylde’s case rate stood at 2,103 and Wyre’s at 2,196.

But Dr Jim Gardner, executive medical director at Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, said rates had previously been doubling.

In his weekly Covid update he said: “When I spoke last week, those numbers had doubled from the week previously. While the numbers have increased, they haven’t doubled.

“So fingers crossed we might be seeing a levelling off because the rates are not doubling as they were, but they are still astronomically high.

“If we look at that in terms of the number of cases, that figure is in excess of 7,500 new cases of Covid diagnosed through PCR swabs in the last week.

“That’s over 1,000 a day so it’s still an extraordinary level of Covid incidents.”

The number of patients in hospital with Covid has increased to 173, from 125 last week, with two patients being treated in intensive care.

Six more patients have died in hospital who had been diagnosed with Covid within 28 days, bringing the total since the beginning of the pandemic to 914.

Dr Gardner said there was still pressure on hospital services although the internal critical incident status had been stood down.

He urged people to ensure they were vaccinated, including with the booster jab, and added restricted hospital visiting remained in place with all visitors having to take a lateral flow test.

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