Cornwall records almost 1,500 new cases of coronavirus in one weekend

The Duchy has recorded almost 95,000 positive tests since the pandemic began

Author: Federica Bedendo, Data Reporter and Emma HartPublished 18th Jan 2022

The number of coronavirus cases in Cornwall increased by 1,496 over the weekend, official figures show.

A total of 94,950 people had been confirmed as testing positive for Covid-19 in Cornwall when the UK coronavirus daily dashboard was updated on January 17 (Monday), up from 93,454 on Friday.

Latest weekly figures show Cornwall recorded 4,078 new cases in the week to Wednesday 12 January, giving the Duchy a case rate of 708.6 per 100,000 people.

That figure is down from the 1,149.9 per 100,000 people recorded this time last week.

However the council is warning us that cases remain high in Cornwall due to the Omicron variant and people are being urged to test regularly.

People with a positive lateral flow test no longer need to take a follow-up PCR test to confirm the result unless they have coronavirus symptoms.

UK case numbers currently only include LFT results for England and Northern Ireland, with lateral flow testing data for Scotland due to be added in the coming weeks.

However, there were no new coronavirus deaths recorded over the weekend in Cornwall.

The dashboard shows 642 people had died in the area by January 17 (Monday) – which was unchanged from Friday.

It means there have been six deaths in the past week, which is an increase on two the previous week.

They were among 8,490 deaths recorded across the South West.

The figures include anyone who died within 28 days of a positive test result for Covid-19, and whose usual residence was in Cornwall.

Daily death counts are revised each day, with each case backdated to the actual date of death, so some areas might see their figures revised down.

Figures reported on a Monday are likely to be lower as a result of a lag in reporting deaths over the weekend.

The figures also show that four in five people in Cornwall have received two doses of a Covid-19 vaccine.

The latest figures show 431,742 people had received both jabs by January 16 (Sunday) – 81% of those aged 12 and over, based on the number of people on the National Immunisation Management Service database.

Across England, 83% of people aged 12 and above had received a second dose of the jab.

Unlike at local level, the national rate was calculated using mid-2020 population estimates from the Office for National Statistics.

The latest coronavirus figures for Cornwall can be found on the government's website.

Hear all the latest news from across the UK on the hour, every hour, on Greatest Hits Radio on DAB, smartspeaker, at greatesthitsradio.co.uk, and on the Rayo app.