Health News at Your Fingertips

The Covid-19 incident linked to the Crown and Anchor pub in Stone has been stepped down, Staffordshire county council said.

There remain 22 confirmed cases, with 15 from Staffordshire and seven from Stoke-on-Trent, and more than 60 of their contacts have been identified and are self-isolating for 14 days.

Around 1,000 people have been tested in connection with the outbreak and authorities are confident it is unlikely there will be further confirmed cases who were infected at the Crown and Anchor or by others who were there.

Dr Richard Harling, the council’s director of health and care, said:

By acting swiftly to test and trace people connected to the pub over the weekend of 17-18 July, we believe that we have been able to contain any further spread of the virus.

While we will continue to monitor the situation, and may still see a small number of cases in family members, we feel that we can step down the incident today.

I would like to thank the people of Stone and all those who came forward to be tested for their cooperation in managing this significant outbreak.

The Crown and Anchor remains closed this weekend and will not be allowed to reopen until it can demonstrate that strict measures are in place to ensure good hygiene and social distancing, in line with national guidance.

Further to Helen’s tweet, here is Friday’s update of the rolling seven-day rate of new cases of Covid-19 for every local authority in England, as reported by PA Media.

The figures, for the seven days to 4 August, are based on tests carried out in laboratories (pillar one of the government’s testing programme) and in the wider community (pillar two).

The rate is expressed as the number of new cases per 100,000 people.

Data for the most recent three days (5 to 7 August) has been excluded as it is incomplete and likely to be revised.

Pendle and Blackburn with Darwen have both recorded rates of 78.2 cases per 100,000 people.

In Pendle, the rate has increased from 40.2 in the seven days to 28 July to 78.2 in the seven days to 4 August. A total of 72 new cases have been recorded.

In Blackburn with Darwen, the rate has fallen from 86.8 to 78.2, with 117 new cases.
Oldham is third, where the rate has risen from 59.5 to 66.6, with 158 new cases.

The rate in Leicester continues to fall, down from 60.1 to 53.9, with 191 new cases.

Other areas recording notable week-on-week rises include:
– Swindon (up from 33.8 to 50.0, with 111 new cases)
– Preston (up from 21.7 to 42.6, with 61 new cases)
– Tameside (up from 19.0 to 33.1, with 75 new cases)
– Bury (up from 16.2 to 27.2, with 52 new cases)

The list has been calculated by the PA news agency and is based on Public Health England data published on 7 August on the UK government’s coronavirus online dashboard.

More from Helen, our north of England editor, who notes that infections have risen in 14 out of 20 areas subject to enhanced restrictions and remain too high across the board.

The mayor of Greater Manchester and other leaders in the region have agreed that the local lockdown restrictions should continue but urged the government to improve the test-and-trace system.

Responding to the health secretary’s announcement that restrictions on social visits to homes in Greater Manchester, East Lancashire and West Yorkshire will remain in place for a further week, a Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) spokesperson said:

The mayor of Greater Manchester and leaders agreed on Wednesday that the heightened restrictions should continue in the city-region for another week.

Alongside the continued measures, Greater Manchester will be taking further action locally over the next seven days. Targeted enforcement will be taking place, such as mystery shoppers visiting pubs and restaurants to ensure they are complying and taking down customer’s details.

We will also continue to focus on communicating direct and simple messaging to the public, especially with younger people, to make sure it is clear there should be no social visits to homes while these restrictions remain in place.

However, we also need government to improve the test-and-trace system. Ministers must ensure people have the financial support to be able to immediately self-isolate and we need under-utilised national centre staff urgently redeployed to local areas.

This is from the Guardian’s north of England editor, Helen Pidd

The Preston restrictions are in addition to those being brought in across England from Saturday making face coverings mandatory (unless exempt) in:

• Indoor places of worship
• Museums and galleries
• Public areas in hotels and hostels
• Bingo halls
• Libraries
• Cinemas
• Concert halls
• Crematoria
• Aquariums and indoor zoos

Lancashire’s director of public health, Dr Sakthi Karunanithi, said:

In the past week, the number of positive cases in Preston has increased significantly and it is extremely important that we act now to prevent the situation from getting any worse.

The evidence is clear, we all need to take extra precautions to protect our loved ones. Coronavirus affects all of communities and we all need to do our part to prevent the spread from continuing rise.

They added:

I also want to be clear that this is affecting people from both south Asian and white ethnic backgrounds, particularly those living in poor socio-economic conditions in our city. We need to avoid mixing between households and to maintain 2 metre social distancing particularly in pubs and clubs.

The new restrictions for Preston follow it being designated an “area of intervention” by the government following a rise in cases.

The Lancashire Resilience Forum said:

Since the rise of cases was first announced last week, residents, communities and businesses have been asked to take extra precautions to reduce the spread of the virus.

These extra precautions are now mandatory and residents are still actively encouraged to get tested at the regional testing site based at Preston’s College if they are experiencing any symptoms of coronavirus.

On the announcement that local restrictions have been extended to Preston, Adrian Phillips, the chief executive at Preston city council, said it was “alarming” to see residents under the age of 30 contracting the virus “at a significant rate”.

He said:

The number of cases in Preston have increased rapidly in recent days leading to government categorising the city as an area of intervention. It is also alarming to see that the under 30’s are contracting it at a significant rate.

It is clear that coronavirus is still here and we all need to work together to keep ourselves, our friends, families and communities safe from this virus.

While some wards have recorded a higher level of cases, this remains a city wide issue and it’s essential that we all do our part to fight the virus.

We’re urging everyone to be diligent and follow the restrictions, in order to protect all of our residents, communities and businesses.

Restrictions banning households from mixing indoors or in gardens are to be brought in for Preston from midnight tonight, the Department of Health has said.

Preston council said the city was to be included in the additional restrictions that apply to other parts of east Lancashire, Greater Manchester and West Yorkshire.

As of midnight Preston residents:

• Cannot have others in their homes and gardens.
• Cannot visit other people’s homes or gardens, even if they are in an unaffected area.
• Are not permitted to mix with other households in indoor venues.

Social bubbles are exempt from the restrictions. Residents can meet in groups of up to six (or more than six if exclusively from two households) in outdoor areas such as parks and beer gardens. Households can also visit indoor hospitality venues, so long as they don’t mix with others.

This follows Preston being designated an “area of intervention” by the government following a surge in cases.

There will be more on this story as we get it.

One of two 90-minute rapid coronavirus tests bought by the UK government and announced on Monday has yet to be approved by regulators, while no data on the accuracy of either has been published, the Guardian has learned.

You can read our health editor Sarah Boseley’s exclusive story here:

The UK government said 46,511 people had died in hospitals, care homes and the wider community after testing positive for coronavirus in the UK as of 5pm on Thursday. That is a rise of 98 from the day before.

Separate figures published by the UK’s statistics agencies show there have now been 56,600 deaths registered in the UK where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate.

The government also said that in the 24-hour period up to 9am on Friday, there had been a further 871 lab-confirmed cases. Overall, a total of 309,005 cases have been confirmed.