West Berkshire has the county's highest covid infection rates
Health officials say there is a direct link with false negative results handed out at Newbury showground recently
West Berkshire has the highest Covid rate in Berkshire – with cases doubling in the last week.
The figures are nearly twice the national average and are reported to be the highest they have been since the start of the pandemic.
The district’s Local Outbreak Engagement Board heard that there was a clear link between the infection rate and false negative results taken at Newbury Showground and sent to the now closed Immensa Lab in Wolverhampton.
The lab may have given more than 43,000 inaccurate PCR test results from 14 local authority areas, including West Berkshire.
Case rates increased by 100 per cent in the week to October 20, from 406 to 905 per 100,000.
Most of the Covid cases are being shown in the 11 to 16 age group (2,268 per 100,000) and council officials will be holding meetings with district headteachers to discuss additional safety measures following the half-term break.
West Berkshire’s service director for communities and wellbeing, Matt Pearce, said:
“We have seen a continued rise in our rates. West Berkshire is ranked worst across the rest of the Berkshire authorities.”
“These are the highest it has ever been and has the higher incidence rate than the South East, which is 526.4 per 100,000 and the national average, which is 458.5 per 100,000.”
“I am being asked what is causing the rise in the rates from the Imensa lab situation,” said Mr Pearce.
“There is certainly an association and a correlation of some kind here.”
He pointed to available data from each of the 14 local authorities affected by the lab results.
“There is also a new sub variant of the Delta virus which seems to be more prevalent in the South West which is potentially more transmissible, but this is currently under investigation.
“The other hypothesis which has been put forward is that some of these local authorities have less collective immunity so have less virus transmitted through the population.
“There are 1,200 per 100,000 in the Swindon area – not rates we have seen so far in the pandemic yet.”
No current impact on admissions at the Royal Berkshire Hospital was reported, although four people have been put on ventilators this week. Admissions have doubled to 23.
Four people have died from Covid in the last month.
Meeting Chair Graham Bridgeman (Con, Burghfield and Mortimer) said:
“I am emphasising the message to the public that we are getting from the acute trusts that vaccination is the key defence in this battle and those who are hospitalised and regrettably may be dying in hospital are very much seen as those who are not vaccinated or partly vaccinated.
“We need to get that message out to get vaccinated. “
Latest figures
In the latest seven-day running figure to October 20, total cases in West Berkshire were at 1,435 up by 728.
Wokingham saw 148 more cases in the same period with total cases of 1,224.
Bracknell Forest saw an increase of 90 to 626 cases.
Slough reported 763 cases, up by 113.
Windsor and Maidenhead reported 854 cases, up by 157.
Reading had 944 cases, up by 232.